conic section

American  

noun

Geometry.

1. a curve formed by the intersection of a plane with a right circular cone; an ellipse, a circle, a parabola, or a hyperbola.

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conic section British  

noun

1. Often shortened to: conic.  one of a group of curves formed by the intersection of a plane and a right circular cone. It is either a circle, ellipse, parabola, or hyperbola, depending on the eccentricity, e , which is constant for a particular curve e = 0 for a circle; e <1 for an ellipse; e = 1 for a parabola; e>1 for a hyperbola

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conic section Scientific  

1. A curve formed by the intersection of a plane with a cone. Conic sections can appear as circles, ellipses, hyperbolas, or parabolas, depending on the angle of the intersecting plane relative to the cone's base.

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Etymology

Origin of conic section

First recorded in 1655–65

Example Sentences

When a quadric surface intersects a coordinate plane, the trace is a conic section.

From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016

The method for graphing a conic section with rotated axes involves determining the coefficients of the conic in the rotated coordinate system.

From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016

In the equation on the left, the major axis of the conic section is horizontal, and in the equation on the right, the major axis is vertical.

From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016

To identify the conic section, we use the discriminant of the conic section 4AC − B2.

From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016

Parabola, a conic section formed by the intersection of a cone by a plane parallel to one of its sides.

From The Nuttall Encyclopædia Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge by Nuttall, P. Austin