INTRO TO CONIC SECTIONS AND CIRCLES

 2 millennia ago (2000 years ago), Apollonius of Perga, the great Greek geometer, studied the curves
formed by the intersection of a plane and a double right circular cone, and discovered many properties of
these curves. These curves were later known as conic sections because they were formed from the double
right circular cone.
 A conic section (conic) according to Apollonius’ study is a curve formed by the intersection of a plane and
a double right circular cone.

 Circle - when the plane is horizontal

 Ellipse - when the (tilted) plane intersects only one cone to form a bounded curve
 Parabola - when the plane intersects only one cone to form an unbounded curve
 Hyperbola - when the plane (not necessarily vertical) intersects both cones to form two unbounded curves
(each called a branch of the hyperbola)

• A double right circular cone consists of two cones joined by a fixed point called the vertex.

• The line that rotates about the vertex/ the line lying entirely on the cone is called the generator.

• The line that remains fixed and is perpendicular to the bases is called the vertical axis.

• The lateral surface of the double right circular cone is called a nappe.

• The angle between the generator and the axis is called the vertex angle.

There are three types of conics: the parabola, ellipse (circle-special type of an ellipse), and hyperbola.

• If the cutting plane is parallel to one and only one generator, the
curve is a parabola.

• If the cutting plane passes

through both the halves of the double napped cone, where the angle
of the plane with the vertical axis is less than the vertical angle, then it
forms a hyperbola.

• The last three cases: point, line, and intersecting lines are obviously
not curves but are also possible results of the intersection of the plane and the double-napped cone.

• Degenerate conic sections: a point, one line, and two lines.

• If the plane intersects the double-napped cone at its vertex, the

ellipse becomes a point, the parabola becomes a line, and the
hyperbola becomes two intersecting lines.
 CIRCLE
• A circle is a set of coplanar points such that the distance from a fixed point is constant.

• The fixed point is called the center of the circle and the constant distance from the center is called
radius of the circle.

To derive an equation of a circle whose center C is at the point (0,0) and with radius r, let P(x,y) be
one of the points on the circle.

A circle may also be considered a special kind of ellipse (for the special case when the tilted plane is
horizontal).

• The distance from C(0,0) to P(x,y) is equal to the radius r.

STANDARD FORM

• By the distance formula,

• The equation of a circle with center at (h,k) and with radius r is:

EXAMPLES

GIVEN: CENTER AT ORIGIN, RADIUS = 4

Answer: 𝑥 ²+ 𝑦 ² = 16

GIVEN: CENTER AT (-4,3), RADIUS = √7

Answer: (𝑥 + 4) ²+ (𝑦 – 3)² = 7

GIVEN: CENTER AT (0,0), RADIUS = 5 √3

Answer: 𝑥 ² + 𝑦 ²= 75√
DETERMINE WHETHER EACH EQUATION REPRESENTS A
CIRCLE, POINT CIRCLE, OR HAS NO GRAPH.
CIRCLE (𝑥 + 4) ² + (𝑦 − 3) ² = 49
CIRCLE 𝑥 ² + 𝑦 ² + 10𝑥 − 8𝑦 − 81= 0
CIRCLE (𝑥 + 10) ² + (𝑦 − 6) ² = 3
CIRCLE (𝑥 − 4) ² + (𝑦 − 7) ² = 49
CIRCLE 3𝑥² + 3𝑦² − 9𝑥 + 6𝑦 − 23 = 0
POINT CIRCLE 𝑥 ² + 𝑦 ² − 5𝑥 + 3𝑦 + 17/ 2 = 0
NO GRAPH 𝑥 ² + 𝑦 ² − 7𝑥 + 2𝑦 + 54 = 0