Presenter: Tom Connolly

Topic: Conic Sections

Technology: Desmos

General Circle Equation:

¿
Where (a, b) is the center and r
is the radius.
A circle is just a specific example of an ellipse. The general equations of an ellipse is:

x2 y 2
+ =r Where a ≠ b and r is the radius.
a b
Another conic section is called a hyperbola. The general form of a hyperbola is:

y2 x2
− =r Where a ≠ b and r is the radius.
a b
The last conic section is a parabola, which follow the equation:

y=a x2 +bx +c This is standard form

y=a ( x −h )2 +k This is vertex form

I have used Desmos to create an image of a rose growing on top of a hill using nothing besides

conic sections. Included are many geometric transformations and dilations which come from a

separate topic that is usually covered before conic sections. It is important before moving on to

understand that a conic section is merely the intersection of a cone (3-D) and a plane. When

looking at conic sections in Algebra II, this plane is always the xy-axis.