Conic Sections

Conics may be defined over other fields, and may also be classified in the projective plane rather than in the affine plane. Over the complex numbers ellipses and hyperbolas are not distinct, since there is no meaningful difference between 1 and 1; precisely, the ellipse x2 + y2 = 1 becomes a hyperbola under the substitution y = iw, geometrically a complex rotation, yielding x2 w2 = 1 a hyperbola is simply an ellipse with an imaginary axis length. Thus there is a 2-way classification: ellipse/hyperbola and parabola. Geometrically, this corresponds to intersecting the line at infinity in either 2 distinct points (corresponding to two asymptotes) or in 1 double point (corresponding to the axis of a parabola), and thus the real hyperbola is a more suggestive image for the complex ellipse/hyperbola, as it also has 2 (real) intersections with the line at infinity. In projective space, over any division ring, but in particular over either the real or complex numbers, all non-degenerate conics are equivalent, and thus in projective geometry one simply speaks of "a conic" without specifying a type, as type is not meaningful. Geometrically, the line at infinity is no longer special (distinguished), so while some conics intersect the line at infinity differently, this can be changed by a projective transformation pulling an ellipse out to infinity or pushing a parabola off infinity to an ellipse or a hyperbola History Conic sections are among the oldest curves, and are one of the oldest math subject studied systematically and thoroughly. The conics seem to have been discovered by Menaechmus (a Greek, c.375-325 BC), tutor to Alexander the Great. They were conceived in an attempt to solve the three famous construction problems of trisecting the angle, doubling the cube, and squaring the circle. (These problems lingered until early 19th century when it was shown that it's impossible to solve them with the help of only a straightedge and a compass.) The conics were first defined as the intersection of: a right circular cone of varying vertex angle; a plane perpendicular to an element of the cone. Appollonius (c. 262-190 BC) consolidated and extended previous results of conics into a monograph Conic Sections, consisting of eight books with 487 propositions. Appollonius was the first to base the theory of all three conics on sections of one circular cone, right or oblique. He is also the one to give the name ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola.

Types of Conic Sections There are three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse. The circle is a special case of the ellipse, and is of sufficient interest in its own right that it is sometimes called the fourth type of conic section. Ellipse In geometry, an ellipse (from Greek elleipsis, a "falling short") is a plane curve that results from the intersection of a cone by a plane in a way that produces a closed curve. Circles are special cases of ellipses, obtained when the cutting plane is orthogonal to the cone's axis. An ellipse is also the locus of all points of the plane whose distances to two fixed points add to the same constant. Ellipses are closed curves and are the bounded case of the conic sections, the curves that result from the intersection of a circular cone and a plane that does not pass through its apex; the other two (open and unbounded) cases are parabolas and hyperbolas. Ellipses arise from the intersection of a right circular cylinder with a plane that is not parallel to the cylinder's main axis of symmetry.

Parabola In mathematics, the parabola ( plural parabolae or parabolas, from the Greek) is a conic section, the intersection of a right circular conical surface and a plane parallel to a generating straight line of that surface. Given a point (the focus) and a corresponding line (the directrix) on the plane, the locus of points in that plane that are equidistant from them is a parabola. The line perpendicular to the directrix and passing through the focus (that is, the line that splits the parabola through the middle) is called the "axis of symmetry". The point on the axis of symmetry that intersects the parabola is called the "vertex", and it is the point where the curvature is greatest. Parabolas can open up, down, left, right, or in some other arbitrary direction. Any parabola can be repositioned and rescaled to fit exactly on any other parabola that is, all parabolas are similar.

Hyperbola In mathematics a hyperbola is a curve, specifically a smooth curve that lies in a plane, which can be defined either by its geometric properties or by the kinds of equations for which it is the solution set. A hyperbola has two pieces, called connected components or branches, which are mirror images of each other and resembling two infinite bows. The hyperbola is one of the four kinds of conic section, formed by the intersection of a plane and a cone. The other conic sections are the parabola, the ellipse, and the circle (the circle is a special case of the ellipse). Which conic section is formed depends on the angle the plane makes with the axis of the cone, compared with the angle a line on the surface of the cone makes with the axis of the cone. If the angle between the plane and the axis is less than the angle between the line on the cone and the axis, or if the plane is parallel to the axis, then the conic is a hyperbola.

Circle A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those points in a plane that is given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any of the points and the centre is called the radius. Circles are simple closed curves which divide the plane into two regions: an interior and an exterior. In everyday use, the term "circle" may be used interchangeably to refer to either the boundary of the figure, or to the whole figure including its interior; in strict technical usage, the circle is the former and the latter is called a disk. A circle can be defined as the curve traced out by a point that moves so that its distance from a given point is constant. A circle may also be defined as a special ellipse in which the two foci are coincident and the eccentricity is 0. Circles are conic sections attained when a right circular cone is intersected by a plane perpendicular to the axis of the cone.

Applications of Conic Sections

Conic sections found their first practical application outside of optics in 1609 when Johannes Kepler derived his first law of planetary motion: A planet travels in an ellipse with the Sun at one focus. Galileo Galilei published the first correct description of the path of projectilesa parabolain his Dialogues of the Two New Sciences (1638). In 1639 the French engineer Girard Desargues initiated the study of those properties of conics that are invariant under projections (see projective geometry). Eighteenth-century architects created a fad for whispering galleriessuch as in the U.S. Capital and in St. Pauls Cathedral in Londonin which a whisper at one focus of an ellipsoid (an ellipse rotated about one axis) can be heard at the other focus, but nowhere else. From the ubiquitous parabolic satellite dish (see the figure) to the use of ultrasound in lithotripsy, new applications for conic sections continue to be found.

Conic sections are important in astronomy. The orbits of two massive objects that interact according to Newton's law of universal gravitation are conic sections if their common centre of mass is considered to be at rest. If they are bound together, they will both trace out ellipses; if they are moving apart, they will both follow parabolas or hyperbolas. Conic sections are always "smooth;" more precisely, they contain no inflection points. This is important for many applications, such as aerodynamics, where a smooth surface is required to ensure laminar flow and prevent turbulence. In projective geometry, the conic sections in the projective plane are equivalent to each other up to projective transformations.

Here are some real life applications and occurrences of conic sections: 1. the paths of the planets around the sun are ellipses with the sun at one focus 2. parabolic mirrors are used to converge light beams at the focus of the parabola 3. parabolic microphones perform a similar function with sound waves 4. solar ovens use parabolic mirrors to converge light beams to use for heating 5. the parabola is used in the design of car headlights and in spotlights because it aids in concentrating the light beam

6. the trajectory of objects thrown or shot near the earth's surface follow a parabolic path 7. I believe the path some astronomical objects take around the sun are hyperbolic (they do not revolve around the sun over and over, they approach, get close then leave in a hyperbolic path) 8. Hyperbolas are used in a navigation system known as LORAN (long range navigation) 9. Hyperbolic as well as parabolic mirrors and lenses are used in systems of telescopes

Suspension Bridges: The parabolic shapes of the cables along suspension bridges help carry the forces acting on the bridge to the top of the towers (which can usually stand flexing, buckling, and oscillation) Parabolic Flight: Also known as weightlessness, this helps future astronauts, and current ones, experience space without ever leaving the Earth. Trajectories: Everything on the planet Earth is subject to gravity. When on object is thrown or forced in a direction not on the ground, eventually gravity grabs it and drags it down. The path the object follows it that of a Parabola. Older Spacecraft: Many of the older space missions followed a parabolic path. When launched, the spacecraft never directly went into the atmosphere... that would surely cause it to burn up. Rather, it entered at an angle. While in space, it would continue to fall to the Earth and eventually, could be recovered.

The Importance of Conic Sections

Conic sections in nature Conic sections are important because they model important physical processes in nature. It can be shown that any body under the influence of an inverse square law force must have a trajectory of one of the conic sections. Heavenly bodies attract each other with a gravitational force that in inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This law, Newton's Law of Gravitation, is an example of an inverse square law. Hence, the trajectories of heavenly bodies are conic sections (circle, ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas.) Coulomb's Law of the attraction of charged particles is another example of an inverse square law. Therefore, the trajectories of charged particles (e.g., electrons) are conic sections. So, from the large scale of the universe to the microscopic scale of the atom, conic sections occur in nature.