What happens to the parabola when it degenerates

Until now, we have looked at equations of conic sections without an \(xy\) term, which aligns the graphs with the x- and y-axes. When we add an \(xy\) term, we are rotating the conic about the origin. If the x- and y-axes are rotated through an angle, say \(\theta\),then every point on the plane may be thought of as having two representations: \((x,y)\) on the Cartesian plane with the original x-axis and y-axis, and \((x^\prime ,y^\prime )\) on the new plane defined by the new, rotated axes, called the x'-axis and y'-axis (Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\)).

What happens to the parabola when it degenerates

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): The graph of the rotated ellipse \(x^2+y^2–xy–15=0\)

We will find the relationships between \(x\) and \(y\) on the Cartesian plane with \(x^\prime \) and \(y^\prime \) on the new rotated plane (Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\)).

What happens to the parabola when it degenerates

Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): The Cartesian plane with \(x\)- and \(y\)-axes and the resulting \(x^\prime\)− and \(y^\prime\)−axes formed by a rotation by an angle \(\theta\).

The original coordinate x- and y-axes have unit vectors \(\hat{i}\) and \(\hat{j}\). The rotated coordinate axes have unit vectors \(\hat{i}^\prime\) and \(\hat{j}^\prime\).The angle \(\theta\) is known as the angle of rotation (Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\)). We may write the new unit vectors in terms of the original ones.

\[\hat{i}′=\cos \theta \hat{i}+\sin \theta \hat{j}\]

\[\hat{j}′=−\sin \theta \hat{i}+\cos \theta \hat{j}\]

What happens to the parabola when it degenerates

Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\): Relationship between the old and new coordinate planes.

Consider a vector \(\vec{u}\) in the new coordinate plane. It may be represented in terms of its coordinate axes.

\[\begin{align*} \vec{u}&=x^\prime i′+y^\prime j′ \\[4pt] &=x^\prime (i \cos \theta+j \sin \theta)+y^\prime (−i \sin \theta+j \cos \theta) & \text{Substitute.} \\[4pt] &=ix' \cos \theta+jx' \sin \theta−iy' \sin \theta+jy' \cos \theta & \text{Distribute.} \\[4pt] &=ix' \cos \theta−iy' \sin \theta+jx' \sin \theta+jy' \cos \theta & \text{Apply commutative property.} \\[4pt] &=(x' \cos \theta−y' \sin \theta)i+(x' \sin \theta+y' \cos \theta)j & \text{Factor by grouping.} \end{align*}\]

Because \(\vec{u}=x^\prime i′+y^\prime j′\), we have representations of \(x\) and \(y\) in terms of the new coordinate system.

\(x=x^\prime \cos \theta−y^\prime \sin \theta\)

and

\(y=x^\prime \sin \theta+y^\prime \cos \theta\)

If a point \((x,y)\) on the Cartesian plane is represented on a new coordinate plane where the axes of rotation are formed by rotating an angle \(\theta\) from the positive x-axis, then the coordinates of the point with respect to the new axes are \((x^\prime ,y^\prime )\). We can use the following equations of rotation to define the relationship between \((x,y)\) and \((x^\prime , y^\prime )\):

\[x=x^\prime \cos \theta−y^\prime \sin \theta\]

and

\[y=x^\prime \sin \theta+y^\prime \cos \theta\]

How to: Given the equation of a conic, find a new representation after rotating through an angle
  1. Find \(x\) and \(y\) where \(x=x^\prime \cos \theta−y^\prime \sin \theta\) and \(y=x^\prime \sin \theta+y^\prime \cos \theta\).
  2. Substitute the expression for \(x\) and \(y\) into in the given equation, then simplify.
  3. Write the equations with \(x^\prime \) and \(y^\prime \) in standard form.

Find a new representation of the equation \(2x^2−xy+2y^2−30=0\) after rotating through an angle of \(\theta=45°\).

Solution

Find \(x\) and \(y\), where \(x=x^\prime \cos \theta−y^\prime \sin \theta\) and \(y=x^\prime \sin \theta+y^\prime \cos \theta\).

Because \(\theta=45°\),

\[\begin{align*} x &= x^\prime \cos(45°)−y^\prime \sin(45°) \\[4pt] x &= x^\prime \left(\dfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\right)−y^\prime \left(\dfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\right) \\[4pt] x &=\dfrac{x^\prime −y^\prime }{\sqrt{2}} \end{align*}\]

and

\[\begin{align*} y &= x^\prime \sin(45°)+y^\prime \cos(45°) \\[4pt] y &= x^\prime \left(\dfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\right) + y^\prime \left(\dfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\right) \\[4pt] y &= \dfrac{x^\prime +y^\prime }{\sqrt{2}} \end{align*}\]

Substitute \(x=x^\prime \cos\theta−y^\prime \sin\theta\) and \(y=x^\prime \sin \theta+y^\prime \cos \theta\) into \(2x^2−xy+2y^2−30=0\).

\(2{\left(\dfrac{x^\prime −y^\prime }{\sqrt{2}}\right)}^2−\left(\dfrac{x^\prime −y^\prime }{\sqrt{2}}\right)\left(\dfrac{x^\prime +y^\prime }{\sqrt{2}}\right)+2{\left(\dfrac{x^\prime +y^\prime }{\sqrt{2}}\right)}^2−30=0\)

Simplify.

\(\begin{array}{rl} 2\dfrac{(x^\prime−y^\prime )(x^\prime −y^\prime )}{2}−\dfrac{(x^\prime −y^\prime )(x^\prime +y^\prime )}{2}+2\dfrac{(x^\prime +y^\prime )(x^\prime +y^\prime )}{2}−30=0 & \text{FOIL method} \\[4pt] {x^\prime }^2−2x^\prime y^\prime +{y^\prime }^2−\dfrac{({x^\prime }^2−{y^\prime }^2)}{2}+{x^\prime }^2+2x^\prime y^\prime +{y^\prime }^2−30=0 & \text{Combine like terms.} \\[4pt] 2{x^\prime }^2+2{y^\prime }^2−\dfrac{({x^\prime }^2−{y^\prime }^2)}{2}=30 & \text{Combine like terms.} \\[4pt] 2(2{x^\prime }^2+2{y^\prime }^2−\dfrac{({x^\prime }^2−{y^\prime }^2)}{2})=2(30) & \text{Multiply both sides by 2.} \\[4pt] 4{x^\prime }^2+4{y^\prime }^2−({x^\prime }^2−{y^\prime }^2)=60 & \text{Simplify. } \\[4pt] 4{x^\prime }^2+4{y^\prime }^2−{x^\prime }^2+{y^\prime }2=60 & \text{Distribute.} \\[4pt] \dfrac{3{x^\prime }^2}{60}+\dfrac{5{y^\prime }^2}{60}=\dfrac{60}{60} & \text{Set equal to 1.} \end{array} \)

Write the equations with \(x^\prime \) and \(y^\prime \) in the standard form.

\[\dfrac{{x^\prime }^2}{20}+\dfrac{{y^\prime}^2}{12}=1 \nonumber\]

This equation is an ellipse. Figure \(\PageIndex{6}\) shows the graph.

What happens to the parabola when it degenerates

Figure \(\PageIndex{6}\)

A conic section is any of the geometric figures that can arise when a plane intersects a cone. (In fact, one usually considers a "two-ended cone," that is, two congruent right circular cones placed tip to tip so that their axes align.) As is clear from their definition, the conic sections are all plane curves, and every conic section can be described in Cartesian coordinates by a polynomial equation of degree two or less.

Classification of conic sections

All conic sections fall into the following categories:

Nondegenerate conic sections

  • A circle is the conic section formed when the cutting plane is parallel to the base of the cone or equivalently perpendicular to the axis. (This is really just a special case of the ellipse -- see the next bullet point.)

What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
By Klaas van Aarsen - Created as a latex tikzpicturePreviously published: Not published before, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25261046

  • A parabola is formed when the cutting plane makes an angle with the axis that is equal to the angle between the element of the cone and the axis.

What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
By Klaas van Aarsen - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25261094

  • An hyperbola is formed when the cutting plane makes an angle with the axis that is smaller than the angle between the element of the cone and the axis.

What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
By Klaas van Aarsen - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25261095

Degenerate conic sections

If the cutting plane passes through the vertex of the cone, the result is a degenerate conic section. Degenerate conics fall into three categories:

  • If the cutting plane makes an angle with the axis that is larger than the angle between the element of the cone and the axis then the plane intersects the cone only in the vertex, i.e. the resulting section is a single point. This is a degenerate ellipse.
  • If the cutting plane makes an angle with the axis equal to the angle between the element of the cone and the axis then the plane is tangent to the cone and the resulting section is a line. This is a degenerate parabola.
  • If the cutting plane makes an angle with the axis that is smaller than then angle between the element of the cone and the axis then the resulting section is two intersecting lines. This is a degenerate hyperbola.

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There are alternate (but equivalent) definitions of every conic section. We present them here:

Definitions of conic sections in terms of foci and directrices

  • Circle - The set of all points that are an equal distance away from a fixed point.
  • Parabola - The set of all points that are an equal distance away from a point (called the focus) and a line (called the directrix).
  • Ellipse - The set of all points in which the sum of the distances between two fixed points (called the foci) are the same.
  • Hyperbola - The set of all points in which the difference of the distances between two fixed points (called the foci) are the same.

Definitions of conic sections in terms of Cartesian coordinates

  • Circle -
    What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
    , where
    What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
    is the center of the circle, and is the radius of the circle.
  • Ellipse -
    What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
    or
    What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
    , where
    What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
    is the center of the ellipse, is the length of the semi-major axis, and is the length of the semi-minor axis.
  • Parabola -
    What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
    or
    What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
    , where
    What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
    is the vertex of the parabola, and
    What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
    is the distance between the focus and the vertex. (Also the distance from the vertex to the directrix).
  • Hyperbola -
    What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
    or
    What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
    , where
    What happens to the parabola when it degenerates
    is the center of the hyperbola, is the length of the semi-transverse axis, and is the length of the semi-conjugate axis.

See Also

  • Parabola
  • Hyperbola
  • Circle
  • Ellipse