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The Five Point Conic Section: Exploration with Computer Software
Author(s) -
Mathews John H.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
school science and mathematics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.135
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 1949-8594
pISSN - 0036-6803
DOI - 10.1111/j.1949-8594.1995.tb15764.x
Subject(s) - conic section , section (typography) , point (geometry) , symbolic computation , computer science , software , computer software , engineering drawing , computer graphics (images) , mathematics , computational science , geometry , programming language , engineering , mathematical analysis , operating system
This article investigates computer graphing of conic sections. It is shown how five points determine the formula of a conic section, and the determinant is used as a computational device to find the coefficients in the formula. The article is written in the “rule‐of‐threeform” using symbolic, numerical and graphical techniques. It is suitable for classroom enrichment where a computer is available.