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Understanding Ellipses in Conic Sections

The document discusses the properties and definitions of ellipses, including the focus, directrix, vertices, and axes. It explains the relationship between the semi-major axis, semi-minor axis, and the distance of the foci from the center, as well as the concept of eccentricity. Additionally, it outlines the standard equations of an ellipse when centered at the origin with foci aligned along the x or y-axis.

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MARIOT
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9 views2 pages

Understanding Ellipses in Conic Sections

The document discusses the properties and definitions of ellipses, including the focus, directrix, vertices, and axes. It explains the relationship between the semi-major axis, semi-minor axis, and the distance of the foci from the center, as well as the concept of eccentricity. Additionally, it outlines the standard equations of an ellipse when centered at the origin with foci aligned along the x or y-axis.

Uploaded by

MARIOT
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

CONIC SECTIONS 187

7. Focus (6,0); directrix x = – 6 8. Focus (0,–3); directrix y = 3


9. Vertex (0,0); focus (3,0) 10. Vertex (0,0); focus (–2,0)
11. Vertex (0,0) passing through (2,3) and axis is along x-axis.
12. Vertex (0,0), passing through (5,2) and symmetric with respect to y-axis.
10. 5 Ellipse
Definition 4 An ellipse is the set of all points in
a plane, the sum of whose distances from two
fixed points in the plane is a constant.
The two fixed points are called the foci (plural
of ‘focus’) of the ellipse (Fig10.20).

A Note The constant which is the sum of


the distances of a point on the ellipse from the
two fixed points is always greater than the Fig 10.20
distance between the two fixed points.
The mid point of the line segment joining the foci is called the centre of the
ellipse. The line segment through the foci of the ellipse is called the major axis and the
line segment through the centre and perpendicular to the major axis is called the minor
axis. The end points of the major axis are called the vertices of the ellipse(Fig 10.21).

Fig 10.21 Fig 10.22

We denote the length of the major axis by 2a, the length of the minor axis by 2b
and the distance between the foci by 2c. Thus, the length of the semi major axis is a
and semi-minor axis is b (Fig10.22).

2024-25
188 MATHEMATICS

10.5.1 Relationship between semi-major


axis, semi-minor axis and the distance of
the focus from the centre of the ellipse
(Fig 10.23).
Take a point P at one end of the major axis.
Sum of the distances of the point P to the
foci is F1 P + F2P = F1O + OP + F2P
(Since, F1P = F1O + OP)
= c + a + a – c = 2a Fig 10.23

Take a point Q at one end of the minor axis.


Sum of the distances from the point Q to the foci is

F1Q + F2Q = b2 + c2 + b2 + c2 = 2 b2 + c 2
Since both P and Q lies on the ellipse.
By the definition of ellipse, we have

2 b 2 + c 2 = 2a, i.e., a = b2 + c 2

or a 2 = b2 + c2 , i.e., c = a 2 − b2 .

10.5.2 Eccentricity
Definition 5 The eccentricity of an ellipse is the ratio of the distances from the centre
of the ellipse to one of the foci and to one of the vertices of the ellipse (eccentricity is
c
denoted by e) i.e., e = .
a
Then since the focus is at a distance of c from the centre, in terms of the eccentricity
the focus is at a distance of ae from the centre.
10.5.3 Standard equations of an ellipse The equation of an ellipse is simplest if the
centre of the ellipse is at the origin and the foci are on the x-axis or y-axis. The two
such possible orientations are shown in Fig 10.24.
We will derive the equation for the ellipse shown above in Fig 10.24 (a) with foci
on the x-axis.

2024-25

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