510 THEORY OK AUCIJITECTLRE. H(;OJC II.

tlirouilh L draw Gil parallel to A 13 cutting tlie oppo.'itc side EC of tlie rectangle in M,
and through the point O draw KI ))anillel to A I) oi- 15 C cutting
,
the opposite side DC in N. In NK or NK produced, make NQ
equal to NC, and join CQ; draw QR parallel to GH cutting Cli
or C15 ])roduced in R; make EII and EG each equal to Q,C, as
also EI and EK each equal to PC
;
then will GH be the major axis
and KI the minor axis of the ellipsis required.
Tlie demonstration of this method, in which the line QK has
p,j, .,.^,j_
nothing to do with the construction, is as follows :

By the similar triangles CPM and CQR, we have CP : CM::CQ : CR.

But because MP is e<jual to MC=EN, and since CR is equal to RQ=E]M,
And, by construction, since PC is equal to EI or EK, and QC is equal to EG or Ell,
EI : EN:: EH : EM, or, alternately, EI : EH:: EN : EM.
But EN is equal to MC, and EM equal to NC
;
AVhence EI : EH
:
: MC : CN.
But since the wholes are as the halves, we shall have K I : GH
:
: BC : CL).
This problem is useful in its application to architecture about domes and pendentives, a.s
well as in the construction of spheroidal ceilings and other details.
OF THE HyrEllBOI.A.
] 083. The direction of a plane cutting a cone, which produces the form called the hyper-
bola, has been already described
;
its most useful properties will form the subject of the
following theorems, which we shall preface with a few definitions :

1 . Tlie primary axis of an hyperbola is called the transvtrsc axis.

2. A straight line drawn through the centre of an hyperbola and terminated at each
extremity, by the opposite curves is called a diameter.
3. The extremities of a diameter terminated by the two opposite curves are called the
vertices
of
that diameter.
4. A straight line drawn from any point of a diameter to meet the curve parallel to a
tangent at the extremity of that diameter is called an ordinate to the two abscissas.
.'^.
A straight line which is bisected at right angles by the transverse axis in its centre,
and which is a fourth proportional to the mean of the two abscissas, their ordinate,
and the transverse axis, is called the conjugate axis.
6. A straight line which is a third proportional to the transverse and conjugate axis is
called the lattis rectum or parameter. ^
7. The two points in the transverse axis cut by ordinates which are
equal to the semi-parameter are cal ed the fici.
1084. Theorem I. In the hyperbola the squares
of
the ordinates
of
the
transverse axis are to each other us the rectangles
(f
their abscissas.
Let QVN
(fig.
430.)
be a section of the cone passing along the
axis VD, the line of section of the directing plane, HH the line ot axis
of the cutting plane, the directing and cutting plane being perpendi-
cular to the plane Q.VN. Let the cone be cut by two planes |)erpen-
dicular to the axis passing through the two jioints P, H, meeting the
plane of section in the lines PM, H I, which are ordinates to the circlet-
and to the figure of the section, of the same time.
By the similar triangles APL and AH
N,
AP : PL:: AH : HN;
And by the similar triangles BPK and BHQ, BP : PK::BH : Ha
Therefore, taking the rectangles of the corresjjonding terms, AP x BP
;
BII ; UN
X
HQ.
But in the circle, PL x PK= PM^ and HN x HQ- HI2
;
Therefore AP x BP ; PM^:: AH x BH :
HPi,
Or, alternately, PM'i
: HI'^:: AP : PB : AH : BH.
1085. Theouem II. In the hyperbola, as the square
of
the transverse
axis is to the square
(f
the conjugate axis, su is the rectangle
of
the abscissas
to the sqriare
of
their ordinate.
Let AB
(j?//.
431.) be the transverse axis, GE the conjugate axis,
C being the centre of th*> opposite curves; also let HI and PM be or-
dinates as before
;
then will
AB2 : GE2::PA x pb : vu\
Or C
A'2
:
CEJ
:
: PA X PB : PM^,
Bv Theor. 1., PA x PB : HA x HB:: PM^ : U\"-,
Altfernateh , PA x PB : PM^
:
: HA x H B
: : II
!!.
/
I
\
Mut HA X HB : HI2::AB2 : GE^;
^J^^^
Then for(! A B-' : G E
^
:
: PA x PB : r
M^.