Circles, ellipses, parabolas and hyperbolas are called conic
sections. They can all be obtained by slicing the cone
x2+y2=z2 with a plane.
Example 1: If the plane is horizontal, (say, z=1) then we get
a circle (say, x2+y2=1).
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Example 2: If the plane is tilted less than 45 degrees,
then we get a stretched circle, better known as an ellipse.
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Example 3: If the plane is tilted exactly 45 degrees (say, z=y+1),
then:y+1=z,y2+2y+1=z2,y2+2y+1=x2+y2,2y=x2−1.This is a parabola.
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Example 4:
If the plane is tilted more than 45 degrees, then it hits the cone
in two pieces. For instance, if we take the plane y=1, then
z2=x2+y2,z2=x2+1,z2−x2=1.This is
a hyperbola.
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Conic sections come up throughout
science, and especially in physics and astronomy. If you throw a ball
across the room, its trajectory will be a parabola. The earth and
other planets move in ellipses around the sun. A comet that has barely
enough energy to escape from the sun's gravity will move in a
parabolic orbit, and if it has more energy than that, its orbit will
be a hyperbola.
[Note: Conic sections can be obtained by slicing any cone
with a plane, but the equations come out simplest when we use the
'standard' cone x2+y2=z2.]
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