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Conic Sections

The document provides definitions and equations for conic sections, specifically circles, parabolas, and ellipses. It includes standard equations for parabolas in various orientations, properties of ellipses including eccentricity and latus rectum, and relationships between their axes. Additionally, it poses a question regarding the locus of intersection points of common tangents between three circles.

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6 views

Conic Sections

The document provides definitions and equations for conic sections, specifically circles, parabolas, and ellipses. It includes standard equations for parabolas in various orientations, properties of ellipses including eccentricity and latus rectum, and relationships between their axes. Additionally, it poses a question regarding the locus of intersection points of common tangents between three circles.

Uploaded by

pawanpratham28
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Conic Sections

Pratham Pawan
February 12, 2025

1 Circle
Definition 1: A circle is the set of all points in a plane that are equidistant
from a fixed point in the plane
The fixed point is called the centre of the circle and the distance from the centre
to a point on the circle is the radius of the circle.
Consider the center of the circle to be at a point (h, k) and the radius to be r
then the general equation of the circle by definition is,

(x − h)2 + (y − k)2 = r2 (1)

2 Parabola
Definition 2: A parabola is the set of all points in a plane that are equidistant
from a fixed line and a fixed point(not on the line) in the plane.
The fixed line is called the directrix of the parabola and the fixed point F is
the focus of the parabola, the line through the focus and perpendicular to the
directrix is called the axis of the parabola, the point of interesection of the axis
and the parabola is the vertex of the parabola.

2.1 Standard Equations of Parabola


The equation of a parabola is the simplest when the vertex is the origin and the
axis of symmetry is along the x-axis or the y-axis, this results in four cases we
shall obtain the standard equations in each case.
Case 1: Vertex is Origin and Axis is Positive x-axis
Say the directrix of the parabola is the line x + a = 0, by definition the location
of the focus must be (a, 0) the distance of any point (x,py) on the parabola from
the line is x + a, and the distance from the focus is (x − a)2 + y 2 equating
these we get, p
x + a = (x − a)2 + y 2 (2)

x2 + a2 + 2ax = x2 + a2 − 2ax + y 2 =⇒ y 2 = 4ax (3)

1
Thus the general equation in this case is y 2 = 4ax
Case 2: Vertex is Origin and the Axis is Negative x-axis
Consider the directrix to be x − a = 0, by defintion the coordinates of the focus
p 0) the distance of a point (x, y) on the parabola is −x + a from the line
is (−a,
and (x + a)2 + y 2 from the focus equating this we obtain the general equation
of the parabola to be,
y 2 = −4ax (4)
Case 3: Vertex is Origin and the Axis is Positive y-axis
Consider the directrix of the parabola to be y + a = 0 by definition the focus is
(0, a), the distance
pof a point (x, y) on the parabola from the line is y + a and
from the focus is x2 + (y − a)2 , equating these we obtain the equation of the
parabola to be,
x2 = 4ay (5)
Case 4: Vertex is Origin and the Axis is the Negative y-axis
Consider the directrix of the parabola to be y − a = 0 by definition the coordi-
nates of the focus are (0, −a) the distance of a point (x,
py) on the parabola from
the line is −y + a and the distance from the focus is x2 + (y + a)2 , equating
these we obtain the equation of the parabola to be,

x2 = −4ay (6)

2.2 Latus Rectum


Definition 3: Latus rectum of a parabola is a line segment perpendicular to
the axis of the parabola, through the focus and whose end points lie on the
parabola.
Let us consider a parabola y 2 = 4ax and try to find the length of its latus
rectum, if we join the endpoints of the latus rectum with the directrix we see
that halves of the latus rectum are part of a square of side length 2a hence the
length of the latus rectum is 4a.

3 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 constant.
The two points are called the foci of the ellipse.
The mid point of the line joining the foci of the ellipse 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 perpendicular to the major axis is
called the minor axis. The end points of the major axis are called the vertices
of the ellipse.
The length of the major axis is denoted by 2a, the length of the minor axis is
denoted by 2b and the distance between the foci is denoted by 2c.

2
3.1 Relationship between Semi-Major Axis, Semi-Minor
Axis and distance of foci from the centre of the ellipse
Consider a point P on the major axis of an ellipse, the sum of the distances of
this point from the foci is,

c + a + a − c = 2a

Consider another √ point Q on the minor axis, the distance of this point from
each of the foci is b2 + c2 hence the sum of distance from the points is,
p
2 b2 + c2

By the definition of an ellipse these two distances must be equal, thus we have,
p
c= a2 − b2

3.2 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 denoted by e or ϵ)
c
ϵ= (7)
a

3.3 Equation of an Standard Ellipse


Case 1: The foci are on the x-axis and the centre is the origin Consider
a point (x, y) on the ellipse and its distance from the foci (c, 0) and (−c, 0) the
sum of these distances must be 2a since this is the sum of distances from one of
the vertices, thus we have,
p p
(x + c)2 + y 2 + (x − c)2 + y 2 = 2a
√
Using this equation and c2 = a2 − b2 we obtain the standard equation of this
ellipse to be,
x2 y2
2
+ 2 =1 (8)
a b
Case 2: The foci are on the y-axis and the centre of the ellipse is
the origin It is the same as above however the a and b are flipped the general
equation is,
x2 y2
+ =1 (9)
b2 a2

3
3.4 Latus Rectum of an Ellipse
Definition 6: Latus rectum of an ellipse is an line segment perpendicular to
the major axis through any of the foci and whose end points lie on the ellipse.
The length of the latus rectum is,

2b2
l= (10)
a

Consider three circles S1 , S2 , S3 , we draw the common external tangents of the


each pair of circles from S1 , S2 , S3 , what is the locus of the points of intersection
of each pair of common tangents. A circle, a line or what?

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