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Any conic section can be defined as the locus of points whose distances to a point (the focus) and a line (the directrix) are in a constant ratio. That ratio is called the eccentricity, commonly denoted as e. The eccentricity can also be defined in terms of the intersection of a plane and a double-napped cone associated with the conic section.
A conic is the curve obtained as the intersection of a plane, called the cutting plane, with the surface of a double cone (a cone with two nappes).It is usually assumed that the cone is a right circular cone for the purpose of easy description, but this is not required; any double cone with some circular cross-section will suffice.
When the directrix has the property that the angle it subtends from the apex is exactly , then each nappe of the conical surface, including the apex, is a developable surface. [ 8 ] A cylindrical surface can be viewed as a limiting case of a conical surface whose apex is moved off to infinity in a particular direction.
The center of a conic, if it exists, is a point that bisects all the chords of the conic that pass through it. This property can be used to calculate the coordinates of the center, which can be shown to be the point where the gradient of the quadratic function Q vanishes—that is, [8] = [,] = [,].
The latus rectum is defined similarly for the other two conics – the ellipse and the hyperbola. The latus rectum is the line drawn through a focus of a conic section parallel to the directrix and terminated both ways by the curve. For any case, is the radius of the osculating circle at the vertex.
The directrix of a conic section can be found using Dandelin's construction. Each Dandelin sphere intersects the cone at a circle; let both of these circles define their own planes. The intersections of these two parallel planes with the conic section's plane will be two parallel lines; these lines are the directrices of the conic section.
In geometry, the conic constant (or Schwarzschild constant, [1] after Karl Schwarzschild) is a quantity describing conic sections, and is represented by the letter K. The constant is given by K = − e 2 , {\displaystyle K=-e^{2},} where e is the eccentricity of the conic section.
Ellipses are the closed type of conic section: a plane curve tracing the intersection of a cone with a plane (see figure). Ellipses have many similarities with the other two forms of conic sections, parabolas and hyperbolas, both of which are open and unbounded. An angled cross section of a right circular cylinder is also an ellipse.