12/23/2015

ReducedandcanonicalequationsoftheconicsMathSyllabus
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Geometry Affine classification Analytical conics

Reduced and canonical equations of the conics

Difficulty:

WewilllearnhowtofindarectangularCartesianreferencesysteminwhichtheequationoftheanalyticalconicalisassimpleas
possible.
Wearegoingtosolvethisproblembymeansofsuccessivereductions,orchangesofcoordinatessothat,aftereachone,the
equationoftheconicisformulatedsimplifyingsomeaspectsoftheequationinthepreviousstep.
Inanycase,thetargetistoseethatarectangularchangeofcoordinatesexists:

x = ax + by
{

y = cx + d y

+ e
+ f

thatconectsthepolynomialq(x, y) intoapolynomialoftheform

q(ax + by

+ e, cx + dy

+ f)

thathasoneofthefollowingforms:
1. 1 x2
2. 1 x2
3. 1 x2

+ 2 y
+ 2ey

where1 , 2 andearerealnumbersdifferentfromzeroand isanarbitraryrealnumber.Wearegoingtonametheprevious

expressionsreducedforms.
Forsomereasons(whichwewillseefurtheron),wewillsaythattheyareofthecentered,parabolictypeandofparallelstraight
lines.

The first reduction

ThefirststepwillbetocomputetheassociatedmatrixA giventheconicwithequationq(x, y) = 0 .Then,wewillcalculatethe
eigenvaluesofthestatedmatrix,calculatingthecharacteristicalpolynomialandthenthedeterminantdet(A I ) .
Assoonastheeigenvaluesarefound,wecanexecuteachangeofcoordinatesthatconvertsthegeneralequationoftheconic
intoanequationofthefollowingform:

1 x

+ 2 y

+ 2dx + 2ey + f = 0

Noticethatifinthegeneralequationoftheconicthetermxy doesnotexist,thisreductionwillnotbenecessarysincematrixA
willalreadybediagonal,andwhatthereductionisdoingisdiagonalizingthemainmatrixoftheconic.
Next,wearegoingtogiveanexampleofthisreduction.

Example
2

( , ) =
+ 4
+ 2
+ 3 =
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ReducedandcanonicalequationsoftheconicsMathSyllabus

Consideringtheequationq(x, y)

= x

+ 4xy + 2y

= [

+ 3 = 0

,firstwecalculateitsassociatedmainmatrix:

det(A

I ) = x

3x 2

Then,assoonasthecharacteristicalpolynomialassociatedwiththemainmatrixisobtained,wecalculateitstworoots.
Inourcase,therootsofthepolynomialare

3 + 17
1 =

3 17
and2 =

Therefore,wecaneffectachangeofcoordinatestoconverttheequationoftheconicintoanequationthus:

1 x

+ 2 y

+ 2dx + 2ey + f = 0

The second reduction

Assoonasthefirstreductionisdone,thenewequationoftheconichastheform

1 x

+ 2 y

+ 2dx + 2ey + f = 0

Noticethatthisequationhastwosituationstobeconsidered:1 2

= 0

and1 2

Inthefirstcase,thereisaneigenvalueequaltozeroandanotherthatisnot(let'srememberthatwesupposedthatmatrixA is
notthezeromatrix0).Exchangingtheaxesifneeded,wecansupposethat1 0 and2 = 0 .
Wecanalsosupposethattheeigenvalueispositive.Atthispoint,wecandifferentiatetwonewcasesifeiszeroorotherthan
zero.
Inthefirstcase,thebasictoolforcontinuingisthecompletionofthesquares,

+ 2dx = x

+ kbeingx = x

andk =

Inthesecondcase,wealsocompletesquaresforx toobtainanequationoftheform

+ 2ey + f = 0

Soweobtainanequationwithoutlineartermx .
Ifweareinthesecondcase,or1 2 0 ,thencompletingsquarestwice,andthecorrespondingchangeofcoordinates,allow
ustosupposethatd = y = 0,andweobtainareducedequationofthecenteredtype:

1 x

+ 2 y

+ = 0

Inshort,ifoneoftheeigenvaluesiszero,differentchangesofcoordinatescanbeenforcedtoobtainoneofthefollowinglimited
forms:
1. 1 x2
2. 1 x2
3. 1 x2

+ 2 y
+ 2ey

Example
Consideringtheequation
Weuseourownandthirdpartycookies.Theyallowustoofferyouabetterserviceandregisterthepurchasingprocessofouronlinecourses.Bybrowsingandcontinuingtouse
ourwebsiteyouareconsentingtotheuseofthecookies.Moreinformation
2
2
q(x, y) = x

+ 2y

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+ 2x + 1 = 0

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ReducedandcanonicalequationsoftheconicsMathSyllabus

wearegoingtoreduceittoobtainoneofthethreereducedforms.Sinceweonlyhavealineartermforx ,itwillbeenoughto
completesquaresforx .
Inourcase,doingtheproposedchangeofvariableswehavex

q(x, y) = x

= x + 1

+ 2x

,andtheequationoftheconicbecomes

= 0

Therefore,thisisthefirstreducedform,inwhichthetwoeigenvaluesareotherthanzero.

Canonical equations
Next,wearegoingtodothelaststeptobeabletoclassifyaconic.
Let1 x2
cases.
If

+ 2 y

+ = 0

beareducedequationofthecenteredtype,andwearegoingtodiscussthedifferentpossible

,wewrite

||
a =
1

||
andb =
|2 |

thenweobtaintheequivalenttooneofthefollowingthreeforms:

y
+

x
= 1,

y
+

x
= 1,

= 1

Thefirstoneandthethirdonearethecanonicalequationsofanellipseandanhyperbole,respectively,withsemiaxesa andb .
Thesecondone,whichdoesnothaverealpoints,wewillcallanimaginaryellipse.
Ontheotherhand,if

= 0

thenwewrite

1
1
andb =
1
|2 |

a =

weseethattheequationhasoneofthefollowingforms:

y
+

x
= 0,

= 0

Thesecondonegivesustworealstraightlinesandthefirstonegivesustwocombinedimaginarystraightlines.
Ifweconsiderthelimitedequationoftheparabolictype,1 x2
x

= 2py

,wherep

e
=

+ 2ey

= 0

,wecansupposethatwehavetheequation

Wecanalsosupposethatp

> 0

(ifitwasnotlikethat,wewouldchangethesenseoftheaxisOY ).

Therefore,theequationisreferringtoaparabolawithfocalparameterpandwiththeaxiscoincidingwithaxisOY .
Finally,ifweconsiderthereducedequationofthetype1 x2

+ = 0

,itisequivalentifwriting

||
k =
1

when

tooneofthethreefollowingequations:

= k , x

= 0, x

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= k (k > 0)

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ReducedandcanonicalequationsoftheconicsMathSyllabus

Thefirstonegivesustwoparallelstraightlines(x = k andx = k ,kbeingthesemidistancebetweenthetwostraightlines)

andthesecondonegivestwocoincidentalstraightlines.Wewillsaythatthethirdonegivesustwocombinedparallelstraight
lines.
Shortly,thisproceduregivesusaneffectivealgorithmtogofromageneralequationoftheconictoacanonicalequation.To
obtainit,weusethefollowingsteps:
Consideringtheequationoftheconic,wecalculateitsmainmatrixA andcalculatetheeigenvaluesinordertodiagonalize

A .Thisstepiscalledthefirstreduction.Whenthisstepisfinished,weseethattheequationoftheconicisas:
2
2
1 x + 2 y + 2dx + 2ey + f = 0 .
Assoonasthefirstreductionisdone,welooktoseeifsomeoftheeigenvaluesarezero.Then,usingthetoolsfor
completingsquares,wecanconverttheequationgivenbythefirstreductionintooneofthefollowingform:
1 x
1 x
1 x

2
2
2

+ 2 y
+ 2ey
+

Thisstepiscalledthesecondreduction.

Finally,dependingonthereducedformthatwehave,bymeansofafewnewchangesofcoordinates,thedifferent
canonicalequationsareobtained.Assoonasthecanonicalequationisobtained,wewillalreadyhaveclassifiedtheconic.
Now,wearegoingtoproposeanexamplethatallowsustofollowallthesesteps.

Example
Consideringtheequation

q(x, y) = x

+ y

+ 2x + 1 = 0

wefirstcalculatetheassociatemainmatrix.
Inthiscase,

= [

1 x

1 x

det(A

1)

= x

2x = x(x 2)

Thereforeitiseasilyseenthatitsrootsare0and2.
Therefore,wearefacedwithacasewhereintheproductoftheeigenvaluesiszero,andasthereisnolinearterminy ,wehave
thethirdreducedform.So,thepolynomialhastheform

q(x, y) = 2x

+ 2x + 1 = 0

Completingthesquares,weseethat
1
q(x, y) = 2(x +

3
) +

andtherefore,doingthechangeofcoordinatesx

1
= x +

= 0
4

,weseethattheequationcanbewrittenas

q(x, y) = 2x

3
+
4

Finally,dividingtheequationby2,thecanonicalequationbecomes

3
+

= 0
8

Thisisapairofcombinedparallelstraightlines.

Example
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Giveanaffineclassificationforthefollowingconic:

q(x, y) = 3x

+ 3y

6xy 6x + 4y 8 = 0

WestartbycalculatingitsmainmatrixA :

= [

det(A

xI ) = x

6x

Assoonaswecalculatedthemainmatrixoftheconicanditsassociatedcharacteristicpolynomial,wearegoingtocalculateits
roots(theeigenvalues).
Therefore,therootsofthetypicalpolynomialare:1

= 6

and2

= 0

Therefore,ourconicisgoingtobeoftheform

q(x, y) = 6x

6x + 4y 8 = 0

Sinceweonlyhaveaquadraticterminx andithaslineartermalso,wewillneedtocompletethesquarestoeliminatethis
term.
Then,doingthechangeofvariablex

1
= x

,theconicalbecomes

q(x, y) = 6x

19
4y

= 0
2

Asweonlyhavequadratictermforx ,thisisaparabola.

LIST EXERCISES BY : REDUCED AND CANONICAL EQUATIONS OF THE CONICS

Related links

Geometry
Affineclassification
Analyticalconics

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