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Characterisations of the parabola

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2019

Steven J. Kilner  and
David L. Farnsworth
Steven J. Kilner
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, 1000 East Henrietta Road, Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY, 14623, USA e-mail: skilner@monroecc.edu
David L. Farnsworth
Affiliation:
School of Mathematical Sciences, 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA e-mail: DLFSMA@rit.edu
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Extract

Three familiar properties of a parabola are that it is the locus of points that are equidistant from the focus and the directrix, that it can be created by an intersection of a plane and a cone, and that incoming rays parallel to the axis are reflected to a single point. The first two are often used as definitions, and the third may be used as an alternative definition or characterisation.

Type
Articles
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 103 , Issue 558 , November 2019 , pp. 416 - 430
Copyright
© Mathematical Association 2019 

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