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Project On Properties and Application of Parabola and Ellipse
Project On Properties and Application of Parabola and Ellipse
PROJECT
ON
PREPARED
BY
PRATAP C SAHA
A.T. MURAGACHHA HIGH ( H.S.) SCHOOL
PROJECT ON PROPERTIES AND APPLICATION OF PARABOLA AND ELLIPSE PREPARED BY PRATAP C SAHA A.T. MURAGACHHA HIGH ( H.S.) SCHOOL
Page 2 of 9
PARABOLA
PROPERTIES AND APPLICATIONS
HISTORY
DEFINITION
In the graph,
The distance d from any point (x, y) to the focus Parabola as conic
`(a, 0)` is the same as the distance from (x, y) to section.
the directrix.
PROJECT ON PROPERTIES AND APPLICATION OF PARABOLA AND ELLIPSE PREPARED BY PRATAP C SAHA A.T. MURAGACHHA HIGH ( H.S.) SCHOOL
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EQUATIONS OF PARABOLA
F(0 , a )
F(a , 0 ) F(- a , 0 )
F(0 , - a )
2 2 2 2
y = 4ax y = - 4ax x = 4ay x = - 4ay
The general equation of PARABOLA derived from the general conic equation is :
2 2
Ax + Bxy + Cy + Dx + Ey + F = 0
2
and the fact that, for a parabola, B = 4AC
The equation for a general parabola with a focus point F(u, v) , and a directrix in the form
ax + by + c = 0 is
PROPERTIES OF PARABOLA
Orthoptic property
PROJECT ON PROPERTIES AND APPLICATION OF PARABOLA AND ELLIPSE PREPARED BY PRATAP C SAHA A.T. MURAGACHHA HIGH ( H.S.) SCHOOL
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Lambert's theorem
The parabolic reflector, which is a mirror or similar reflective device that concentrates light or other forms of
electromagnetic radiation to a common focal point, or conversely, collimates light from a point source at the
focus into a parallel beam. The principle of the parabolic reflector may have been discovered in the 3rd century
BC by the geometer Archimedes, who, according to a legend of debatable veracity, constructed parabolic mirrors
to defend Syracuse against the Roman fleet, by concentrating the sun's rays to set fire to the decks of the
Roman ships. The principle was applied to telescopes in the 17th century.
Point M is the point at which the ray hits the parabolic dish. “I” is
the angle made by the incident ray and the normal (in red) which
is perpendicular to the tangent (in blue) to the parabola at point M.
r is the angle made by the reflected ray and the normal. According
to the laws of reflection, angles “I” and “R” are equal.
All reflected rays due to incident rays, at different positions,
intercept the axis of the parabola y axis) at the same.
In parabolic microphones, a parabolic reflector that reflects sound, but not necessarily electromagnetic radiation,
is used to focus sound onto a microphone, giving it highly directional performance.
Solar cooker with parabolic reflector
PARABOLIC SKIS
PROJECT ON PROPERTIES AND APPLICATION OF PARABOLA AND ELLIPSE PREPARED BY PRATAP C SAHA A.T. MURAGACHHA HIGH ( H.S.) SCHOOL
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Paraboloids are also observed in the surface of a liquid confined
to a container and rotated around the central axis. In this case,
the centrifugal force causes the liquid to climb the walls of the
container, forming a parabolic surface. This is the principle behind
the liquid mirror telescope.
Shown here is a rectangular container with fluid inside, the
container is placed on a rotating table, when the table rotates the
fluid inside take the shape of a parabola.
PROJECT ON PROPERTIES AND APPLICATION OF PARABOLA AND ELLIPSE PREPARED BY PRATAP C SAHA A.T. MURAGACHHA HIGH ( H.S.) SCHOOL
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ELLIPSE
PROPERTIES AND APPLICATIONS
HISTORY
The ellipse was first studied by Menaechmus. Euclid wrote about the ellipse and it was given its
present name by Apollonius.
The focus and directrix of an ellipse were considered by Pappus.
Kepler, in 1602, said he believed that the orbit of Mars was oval, then he later discovered that it
was an ellipse with the sun at one focus. In fact Kepler introduced the word "focus" and published
his discovery in 1609. The eccentricity of the planetary orbits is small (i.e. they are close to
circles). The eccentricity of Mars is 1/11 and of the Earth is 1/60.
In 1705 Halley showed that the comet, which is now called after him, moved in an elliptical orbit
round the sun. The eccentricity of Halley's comet is 0.9675 so it is close to a parabola.
The area of the ellipse is πab. There is no exact formula for the length of an ellipse in
Ellipse as conic section elementary functions and this led to the study of elliptic functions. Ramanujan, in 1914, gave the
approximate length π(3(a + b) - √[(a + 3b)(3a + b)]).
DEFINITION
In Euclidean geometry, the ellipse is usually defined as the
bounded case of a conic section, or as the set of points such
that the sum of the distances to two fixed points (the foci) is
B1
constant.
The ellipse can also be defined as the set of points such that
the distance from any point in that set to a given point in the
plane (a focus) is a constant positive fraction less than 1 (the
eccentricity) of the perpendicular distance of the point in the set A2 A1
to a given line (called the directrix).
Yet another equivalent definition of the ellipse is that it is the
set of points that are equidistant from one point in the plane (a
focus) and a particular circle, the directrix circle (whose center is B2
the other focus).
Ellipses have two mutually perpendicular axes A 1 A 2 and B 1 B 2
about which the ellipse is symmetric These axes intersect at the
center C of the ellipse due to this symmetry. The larger of these
two axes, which corresponds to the largest distance between
antipodal points on the ellipse, is called the Major axis or
Transverse diameter .
The smaller of these two axes, and the smallest distance across
the ellipse, is called the Minor axis or Conjugate diameter .
The four points where these axes cross the ellipse are the vertices and are marked as A 1 , A 2 , B 1 and B 2 . In
addition to being at the largest and smallest distance from the center, these points are where the curvature of
the ellipse is maximum and minimum.
The two foci (plural of focus and the term focal points is also used) of an ellipse are two special points F 1 and F 2
on the ellipse's major axis that are equidistant from the center point. The sum of the distances from any point P
on the ellipse to those two foci is constant and equal to the major axis (PF 1 + PF 2 = 2a).
The distance to the focal point from the center of the ellipse is sometimes called the linear eccentricity, f, of the
ellipse. Here it is denoted by f, but it is often denoted by c.
Due to the Pythagorean theorem and the definition of the ellipse explained in the previous paragraph:
2 2 2
f = a −b .
The eccentricity of an ellipse, usually denoted by ε or e, is the ratio of the distance between the two foci, to the
length of the major axis or e = 2f/2a = f/a. For an ellipse the eccentricity is between 0 and 1 (0 < e < 1). When
PROJECT ON PROPERTIES AND APPLICATION OF PARABOLA AND ELLIPSE PREPARED BY PRATAP C SAHA A.T. MURAGACHHA HIGH ( H.S.) SCHOOL
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the eccentricity is 0 the foci coincide with the center point and the figure is a circle. As the eccentricity tends
toward 1, the ellipse gets a more elongated shape. It tends towards a line segment (see below) if the two foci
remain a finite distance apart and a parabola if one focus F 1 is kept fixed as the other F 2 is allowed to move
arbitrarily far away. The eccentricity is also equal to the ratio of the distance from any particular point P on an
ellipse to one of the foci F 2 to the perpendicular distance to the directrix from the same point (line PD),
e = PF 2 /PD.
EQUATIONS OF ELLIPSE
The equations on this page are true only for ellipses that are aligned with the coordinate plane, that is, where the major and
minor axes are parallel to the coordinate system.
PROPERTIES OF ELLIPSE
Focal property
PROJECT ON PROPERTIES AND APPLICATION OF PARABOLA AND ELLIPSE PREPARED BY PRATAP C SAHA A.T. MURAGACHHA HIGH ( H.S.) SCHOOL
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Reflections in Ellipse
Cross the ellipse by two parallel lines AB and CD, with points A,
B, C, D on the ellipse. Find the midpoints M and N of the
segments AB and CD. Line MN is incident to the center of the
ellipse. Therefore by choosing a pair of parallel lines with a
different direction, the center of the ellipse is found at the
intersection of the two midlines.
Pascal in Ellipse
Pascal's theorem which B. Pascal has famously discovered at
the age of 16 states that if a hexagon is inscribed in a conic, then
the three points at which the pairs of opposite sides meet are
collinear.
The universality of the diagram led to the introduction of the term
Pascal's Mystic Hexagram that stuck around.
Gergonne in Ellipse
The lines joining the points of tangency of the incircle with the
opposing vertices of a triangle concur in a point known as the
Gergonne point or Gergonne's center.
PROJECT ON PROPERTIES AND APPLICATION OF PARABOLA AND ELLIPSE PREPARED BY PRATAP C SAHA A.T. MURAGACHHA HIGH ( H.S.) SCHOOL
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THE USES AND APPLICATIONS OF ELLIPSE
The elliptical billiards table uses the same principle as the whispering
gallery above. The pocket is positioned at one of the focal points. If
one hits the ball so that it goes through one focus, it will reflect off the
ellipse and go into the hole which is located at the other focus.
SATELLITES
All the planets orbiting the sun are satellites. These planets do not
travel in a circular motion as many people believe they do, but they
travel in elliptical orbits. The eccentricity of the earths orbit around
the sun is approximately 0.0167, which is, as explained previously,
almost circular. The planet Pluto has an orbit with an eccentricity of
approximately 0.2481. The moon travels around the earth in an
elliptical orbit also and so too do man made satellites.
LITHOTRIPSY
Ellipses are used for a medical process called lithotripsy. If we
imagine an ellipse as being made from a reflective material, than a
ray emitted from one focus reflects off the ellipse and passes through
the second; a fact true for all forms of energy, including shockwaves.
In lithotripsy, which is the process of using ultrasound to shatter
kidney stones. The patient is placed in a elliptical tank of water, with
the kidney stone at one focus. High-energy shock waves generated at
the other focus are concentrated on the stone, pulverizing it.
Some tanks are in fact elliptical (not circular) in cross section. This
gives them a high capacity, but with a lower center-of-gravity, so that
they are more stable when being transported. And they're shorter, so
that they can pass under a low bridge. You might see these tanks
transporting heating oil or gasoline on the highway
PROJECT ON PROPERTIES AND APPLICATION OF PARABOLA AND ELLIPSE PREPARED BY PRATAP C SAHA A.T. MURAGACHHA HIGH ( H.S.) SCHOOL