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An ellipse may also be defined in terms of one focal point and a line outside the ellipse called the directrix: for all points on the ellipse, the ratio between the distance to the focus and the distance to the directrix is a constant.
A family of conic sections of varying eccentricity share a focus point and directrix line, including an ellipse (red, e = 1/2), a parabola (green, e = 1), and a hyperbola (blue, e = 2). The conic of eccentricity 0 in this figure is an infinitesimal circle centered at the focus, and the conic of eccentricity ∞ is an infinitesimally separated ...
Conic sections of varying eccentricity sharing a focus point and directrix line, including an ellipse (red, e = 1/2), a parabola (green, e = 1), and a hyperbola (blue, e = 2). The conic of eccentricity 0 in this figure is an infinitesimal circle centered at the focus, and the conic of eccentricity ∞ is an infinitesimally separated pair of lines.
*The distance from a point, P, on the ellipse to a focus is always proportional to the distance to a vertical line, D, called the directrix. The constant of proportionality is the eccentricity, e. *The eccentricity is always between 0 and 1. At zero, the ellispe becomes a circle, at 1 the ellipse becomes a parabola. Greater than one, it is a ...
In an ellipse, the semi-major axis is the geometric mean of the distance from the center to either focus and the distance from the center to either directrix. The semi-minor axis of an ellipse runs from the center of the ellipse (a point halfway between and on the line running between the foci) to the edge of the ellipse. The semi-minor axis is ...
D, called the directrix. The ratios e=f/a=a/d=PF/PD are always constant. *The eccentricity is always between 0 and 1. At zero, the ellispe becomes a circle, at 1 the ellipse becomes a parabola. Greater than one, it is a hyperbola. Other related images Ellipse Properties Showing Construction with string.svg
The ellipse thus generated has its second focus at the center of the directrix circle, and the ellipse lies entirely within the circle. For the parabola, the center of the directrix moves to the point at infinity (see Projective geometry). The directrix "circle" becomes a curve with zero curvature, indistinguishable from a straight line.
More generally, when the directrix is an ellipse, or any conic section, and the apex is an arbitrary point not on the plane of , one obtains an elliptic cone [4] (also called a conical quadric or quadratic cone), [5] which is a special case of a quadric surface. [4] [5]