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The length of the chord through one of the foci, perpendicular to the major axis of the hyperbola, is called the latus rectum. One half of it is the semi-latus rectum. A calculation shows =. The semi-latus rectum may also be viewed as the radius of curvature at the vertices.
The principal axis is the line joining the foci of an ellipse or hyperbola, and its midpoint is the curve's center. A parabola has no center. The linear eccentricity (c) is the distance between the center and a focus. The latus rectum is the chord parallel to the directrix and passing through a focus; its half-length is the semi-latus rectum (ℓ).
The length of the semi-major axis a of an ellipse is related to the semi-minor axis's length b through the eccentricity e and the semi-latus rectum, as follows: b = a 1 − e 2 , ℓ = a ( 1 − e 2 ) , a ℓ = b 2 . {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}b&=a{\sqrt {1-e^{2}}},\\\ell &=a(1-e^{2}),\\a\ell &=b^{2}.\end{aligned}}}
When 0 < a < c the conic is a hyperbola; when c < a the conic is an ellipse. Each ellipse or hyperbola in the pencil is the locus of points satisfying the equation + = with semi-major axis as parameter.
The length of the chord through one focus, perpendicular to the major axis, is called the latus rectum. One half of it is the semi-latus rectum. A calculation shows: [4] = = (). The semi-latus rectum is equal to the radius of curvature at the vertices (see section curvature).
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. For a parabola, the semi-latus rectum, , is ...
The universal parabolic constant is the red length divided by the green length. The universal parabolic constant is a mathematical constant. It is defined as the ratio, for any parabola, of the arc length of the parabolic segment formed by the latus rectum to the focal parameter. The focal parameter is twice the focal length. The ratio is ...
A,C: vertices of the ellipse and foci of the hyperbola E,F: foci of the ellipse and vertices of the hyperbola Focal conics: two parabolas A: vertex of the red parabola and focus of the blue parabola F: focus of the red parabola and vertex of the blue parabola. In geometry, focal conics are a pair of curves consisting of [1] [2] either