n-ellipse
In geometry, the multifocal ellipse (also known as n-ellipse, k-ellipse, polyellipse, egglipse, generalized ellipse, and (in German) Tschirnhaus'sche Eikurve) is a generalization of the ellipse allowing more than two foci.
Specifically, given n points (ui, vi) in a plane (foci), an n-ellipse is the locus of all points of the plane whose sum of distances to the n foci is a constant d. The set of points of an n-ellipse is defined as:
The 1-ellipse corresponds to the circle. The 2-ellipse corresponds to the classic ellipse. Both are algebraic curves of degree 2.
For any number of foci, the curves are convex and closed.[1]:p. 90 If n is odd, the algebraic degree of the curve is while if n is even the degree is [2]:Thm. 1.1 In the n=3 case, the curve is smooth unless it goes through a focus.[2]:Fig. 3
See also
References
- ↑ Paul Erdős; István Vincze (1982). "On the Approximation of Convex, Closed Plane Curves by Multifocal Ellipses" (PDF). Journal of Applied Probability 19: 89–96. JSTOR 3213552. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
- 1 2 J. Nie, P.A. Parrilo, B. Sturmfels: "Semidefinite representation of the k-ellipse".
- James Clerk Maxwell: "Paper on the Description of Oval Curves, Feb 1846, from The Scientific Letters and Papers of James Clerk Maxwell: 1846-1862
- Z.A. Melzak and J.S. Forsyth: "Polyconics 1. polyellipses and optimization", Q. of Appl. Math., pages 239–255, 1977.
- P.L. Rosin: "On the Construction of Ovals"
- P.V. Sahadevan: "The theory of egglipse—a new curve with three focal points", International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology 18 (1987), 29–39. MR 88b:51041; Zbl 613.51030
- J. Sekino: "n-Ellipses and the Minimum Distance Sum Problem", American Mathematical Monthly 106 #3 (March 1999), 193–202. MR 2000a:52003; Zbl 986.51040.
- B. Sturmfels: "The Geometry of Semidefinite Programming", pp. 9-16.