9.3 Conic Sections

The following are the standard conic sections:

1.
Ellipse \(\dfrac {x^2}{a^2}+\dfrac {y^2}{b^2}=1\)
2.
Hyperbola \(\dfrac {x^2}{a^2}-\dfrac {y^2}{b^2}=1\).
3.
Parabola \(y^2=4ax\)
4.
Ellipsoid \(\dfrac {x^2}{a^2}+\dfrac {y^2}{b^2}+\dfrac {z^2}{c^2}=1\)
5.
Hyperoboloid of one sheet \(\dfrac {x^2}{a^2}+\dfrac {y^2}{b^2}-\dfrac {z^2}{c^2}=1\)
6.
Elliptic paraboloid \(\dfrac {x^2}{a^2}+\dfrac {y^2}{b^2}=z\)
7.
Hyperbolic paraboloid \(\dfrac {x^2}{a^2}-\dfrac {y^2}{b^2}=z\)
8.
Hyperboloid of two sheets \(\dfrac {x^2}{a^2}-\dfrac {y^2}{b^2}-\dfrac {z^2}{c^2}=1\)
9.
Elliptic cone \(\dfrac {x^2}{a^2}+\dfrac {y^2}{b^2}=\dfrac {z^2}{c^2}\)

Example 9.3.1. Find the principal axes, centre and sketch the graph of \(5x^2-6xy+5y^2=8\).

Solution. \(A= \begin {pmatrix} 5&-3\\-3&5\\ \end {pmatrix} \hspace {0.4cm}\implies \lambda =2,8\)

\(D(x)=2a^2+8b^2=8\hspace {0.4cm}\implies \dfrac {a^2}{4}+\dfrac {b^2}{1}=1\).

Ellipse with principal axes = 2, minor axes = 1.

\(\lambda =2\), \(V= \begin {pmatrix} 1\\1 \end {pmatrix} \), line of rotation \(y=x\)

xyab

Example 9.3.2. Identify the quadratic surface \(7x^2+7y^2+10z^2-2xy-4xz+4yz=24\)

Solution. \( \begin {pmatrix} 7&-1&-2\\-1&7&2\\-2&2&10\\ \end {pmatrix} \hspace {0.4cm} \implies \lambda =6,6,12\) \begin {align*} D(a,b,c) &=6a^2+6b^2+12c^2=24\\ &\implies \frac {a^2}{4}+\frac {b^2}{4}+\frac {c^2}{\sqrt {2}}=1\\\\ &\implies \frac {a^2}{2^2}+\frac {b^2}{2^2}+\frac {c^2}{\sqrt {2}}=1 \end {align*}

\(\implies \) Ellipsoid.

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