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Circles and Elipses Notes

Conics Sections Notes

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15 views2 pages

Circles and Elipses Notes

Conics Sections Notes

Uploaded by

anmol16spam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Conic Sections:

Ellipse: A set of all points in the plane whose sum of distances from
two fixed points, called foci is a constant number.

• Major axis – the line containing the foci


• Center – the midpoint of the segment joining the foci
• Minor axis – the line that’s through the center and perpendicular to the major axis
• Vertices – points at the intersection of the major axis and the ellipse
• Co-vertices – point at the intersection of the minor axis and the ellipse

FYI: “Discuss the equation” in Conics means: find the center, major axis, foci, vertices, and co-vertices.

Equation of an Ellipse:
Foci @ (h ± c, k) & vertices @ (h ± a, k) Foci @ (h, k ± c) & vertices @ (h, k ± a)
Horizontal Position Vertical Position

(𝑥𝑥 − ℎ)2 (𝑦𝑦 − 𝑘𝑘)2


+ =1 (𝑥𝑥 − ℎ)2 (𝑦𝑦 − 𝑘𝑘)2
𝑎𝑎2 𝑏𝑏 2 + =1
𝑏𝑏 2 𝑎𝑎2
where a > b > 0 and c2 = a2 – b2 where a > b > 0 and c2 = a2 – b2

Examples 1, 2 and 3 will have a center at the origin, the rest will have a center at a point in the
coordinate plane. Remember the values you are working with are distances from the center.

Ex 1. Discuss and graph the equation of the conic section:


9 x2 + 4 y 2 =
36

Discuss and graph: 4 y 2 + x 2 =


8

Ex 2 Find an equation for each ellipse given the info below:


a) Foci at (0, ±2); major axis measures 8:
Same task as in ex. 2:
Center (0, 0); Focus (-1, 0); Vertex (-3, 0):
Ex 3. Find the vertices, co-vertices, and the foci of the given ellipse; graph the ellipse:
𝒙𝒙𝟐𝟐 𝒚𝒚𝟐𝟐
+ = 𝟏𝟏
𝟗𝟗 𝟐𝟐𝟐𝟐

Ex 4. Find an equation of an ellipse whose foci are (1, 2) and (-3, 2) & whose vertex is (-4, 2):

Find an equation of an ellipse whose foci are (5, 1) and (-1, 1) and whose vertex is (-2, 1)

Ex 5. Discuss each equation. (So, find the center, foci, vertices, and co-vertices.):
a) 4x2 + 3y2 + 8x – 6y = 5

b) 9(x – 3)2 + (y + 2)2 = 18

Ex 6. An arch for a bridge over a highway is in the form of a half of ellipse. The top of the arch is 20 feet above

ground level. What should the span of the bridge be if the height 28 feet from the center is to be 13 feet?

Eccentricity: The eccentricity of an ellipse is:

c a 2 − b2
e= = , where a is the semimajor axis, b is the semiminor axis, and c is
a a
the distance from the center of the ellipse to either focus.

The eccentricity is related to the shape of the ellipse. The larger c is, compared to a, the more off-

center the foci are.

The eccentricity of any ellipse falls between ________________________. The eccentricity of a circle

is _____.

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