Using examples from everyday life, this text studies ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas. Explores their ancient origins and describes the reflective properties and roles of curves in design applications. 1993 edition. Includes 98 figures.

"Geometry Of Conics deals with the properties of conics (plane curves of second degree) that can be formulated and proved using only elementary geometry. Starting with the well-known optical properties of conics, this book moves to less trivial results, both classical and contemporary. It demonstrates the advantage of purely geometric methods of studying conics."--Publisher's website.

Based on Stanford University's well-known competitive exam, this excellent mathematics workbook offers students at both high school and college levels a complete set of problems, hints, and solutions. 1974 edition.

This book engages the reader in a journey of discovery through a spirited discussion among three characters: philosopher, teacher, and student. Throughout the book, philosopher pursues his dream of a unified theory of conics, where exceptions are banished. With a helpful teacher and examplehungry student, the trio soon finds that conics reveal much of their beauty when viewed over the complex numbers. It is profusely illustrated with pictures, workedout examples, and a CD containing 36 applets. Conics is written in an easy, conversational style, and many historical tidbits and other points of interest are scattered throughout the text. Many students can selfstudy the book without outside help. This book is ideal for anyone having a little exposure to linear algebra and complex numbers.

This volume combines an introduction to central collineations with an introduction to projective geometry, set in its historical context and aiming to provide the reader with a general history through the middle of the nineteenth century. Topics covered include but are not limited to: The Projective Plane and Central Collineations The Geometry of Euclid's Elements Conic Sections in Early Modern Europe Applications of Conics in History With rare exception, the only prior knowledge required is a background in high school geometry. As a proof-based treatment, this monograph will be of interest to those who enjoy logical thinking, and could also be used in a geometry course that emphasizes projective geometry.

The aim of this book is to throw light on various facets of geometry through development of four geometrical themes. The first theme is about the ellipse, the shape of the shadow east by a circle. The next, a natural continuation of the first, is a study of all three types of conic sections, the ellipse, the parabola and the hyperbola. The third theme is about certain properties of geometrical figures related to the problem of finding the largest area that can be enclosed by a curve of given length. This problem is called the isoperimetric problem. In itself, this topic contains motivation for major parts of the curriculum in mathematics at college level and sets the stage for more advanced mathematical subjects such as functions of several variables and the calculus of variations. Here, three types of conic section are discussed briefly. The emergence of non-Euclidean geometries in the beginning of the nineteenth century represents one of the dramatic episodes in the history of mathematics. In the last theme the non-Euclidean geometry in the Poincare disc model of the hyperbolic plane is developed.