hyperbola

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Eccentricity of conic sectionsThe eccentricity of a conic section completely characterizes its shape. For example, all circles have zero eccentricity, and all parabolas have unit eccentricity; hence, all circles (and all parabolas) have the same shape, only varying in size. (Under appropriate magnification they are indistinguishable.) In contrast, ellipses and hyperbolas vary greatly in shape.

Projective conic sectionsThe conic sections (ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola) can be generated by projecting the circle formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane (the reality plane, or RP) perpendicular to the cone's central axis. The image of the circle is projected onto a plane (the projective plane, or PP) that is oriented at the same angle as the cutting plane (Ω) passing through the apex (“eye”) of the double cone. In this example, the orientation of Ω produces an ellipse in PP.

Figure 6: The hyperbola (see text).

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hyperbola: Related Content

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Eccentricity of conic sectionsThe eccentricity of a conic section completely characterizes its shape. For example, all circles have zero eccentricity, and all parabolas have unit eccentricity; hence, all circles (and all parabolas) have the same shape, only varying in size. (Under appropriate magnification they are indistinguishable.) In contrast, ellipses and hyperbolas vary greatly in shape.

Projective conic sectionsThe conic sections (ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola) can be generated by projecting the circle formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane (the reality plane, or RP) perpendicular to the cone's central axis. The image of the circle is projected onto a plane (the projective plane, or PP) that is oriented at the same angle as the cutting plane (Ω) passing through the apex (“eye”) of the double cone. In this example, the orientation of Ω produces an ellipse in PP.

Figure 6: The hyperbola (see text).

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Topics

Fermat’s hyperbola hyperbolic geometry hyperbolic functions hyperbolic orbit hyperbolic space hyperbolic navigation system Landen’s theorem conic section ellipse parabola circle