Marikina High School

SHS STEM-Math Department

Teacher: Dan Russell M. Ventura

Email: russellventura@depedmarikina.ph

PRECALCULUS
Introduction to Conic Sections
___

QUARTER 1 - MODULE 1

CONIC SECTIONS

= Review =

Are you still familiar with these?

= Discussion =

Double Right Circular Cone

● A right circular cone is a cone where the axis of the cone is the line meeting the
vertex to the midpoint of the circular base
● A double right circular cone is a geometric figure made up of two right circular
cones placed apex to apex as shown on the right. (Figure on the right)
Conic Sections (or Conics)

● cross sections of a cone

● a particular class of curves that oftentimes appear in nature and which have applications in
other fields
● obtained from different intersections of a plane to a right circular cone

Kinds of Conic Sections Formed

● Circle – an intersection of a plane perpendicular to the cone's axis; formed when the plane is
horizontal to the base of the right circular cone
● Ellipse – formed when the (tilted) plane intersects only one cone to form a bounded curve
● Parabola – formed when the plane intersects only one cone to form an unbounded curve
● Hyperbola – formed when the plane (not necessarily vertical) intersects both cones to form two
unbounded curves (each called a branch of the hyperbola)

(For the animation of the cross-section of a cone, click this LINK. You will be redirected to a video
showing how conic sections are formed.)
Applications of Conic Sections

Most clocks, plates, and bottle caps are circular. A well-known logo for automobiles and the famous
Elliptical Road in Quezon City follows an ellipse. Bridge cables hanging between posts and most
telescope mirrors are parabolas. Lastly, cooling towers, lamp shade, LORAN-C (a navigation system),
and a special telescope known as the Cassegrain Telescope make use of a hyperbolic shape.

However, not all conic sections follow those four basic forms (circle, ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola).

Degenerate Conics

● Not all intersections of plane and cone form any of the four conic sections, there are also
degenerate cases
● They are generated when a plane intersects the vertex of the cone, which can form a single
point, a line, or two intersecting lines
To better visualize this concept, you can click this LINK to direct you to a video presentation of how
degenerate conics are formed.

Based on the video presentation found on the link above, we can say that:

● The degenerate form of a circle or an ellipse is a singular point.

● The degenerate form of a parabola is a line.
● The degenerate form of a hyperbola is two intersecting lines.

Degenerate A conic section which does not fit the standard form of equation;

Vertex An extreme point on the conic section

A straight line which a curve approaches arbitrarily closely as it goes to

Asymptote
infinity

Locus The set of all points whose coordinates satisfy a given equation or condition

A point used to construct and define a conic section, at which rays reflected
Focus
from the curve converge

Nappe One half of a double cone

Directrix A line used to construct and define a conic section

Eccentricity A dimensionless parameter characterizing the shape of a conic section;

REFERENCES