Re: Ellipse equation simplification on Mathematica:
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg76265] Re: Ellipse equation simplification on Mathematica:
- From: CKWong <CKWong.P at gmail.com>
- Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 06:29:12 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <f2emof$35h$1@smc.vnet.net>
Errata on my last posting:
Let r, a, and b be vectors in R^3 and consider the surface S given by
r = { x, y, z } that satisfies
|| r - a || + || r - b || = constant (1)
where || r || is the norm (length) of vector r.
We shall assume S to be a closed surface that bounds a 3-D volume V.
To begin, every cross section of V that passes through points a and b
is an ellipse with a and b as foci.
This means V is an ellipsoid of revolution with the line through a and
b as the axis of revolution.
For the case b = -a, the center of V is at the origin. Setting z = 0
in eq(1) then gives the intersect C of S with the z = 0 plane. C is
an ellipse since every cross section of an ellipsoid that passes
through its center is an ellipse.
The directions of the principal axes of C are along the vectors ( a
cross z-axis ) and (projection of a onto the x-y plane ). These can
be substituted into eq(1) with z=0 to give the semi-major & semi-minor
axes of C; and hence an elliptic equation of the canonical form.