Conic Vocabulary

the line segment that has as its endpoints the vertices of a hyperbola

• Transverse axis

• Conjugate axis

• Minor axis

• Major axis

fixed point in a plane where all radii of that circle commence

• Circle

• Center of a circle

• Vertex of a conic section

• Ellipse

the segment perpendicular to the transverse axis of a hyperbola through its center

• Minor axis

• Transverse axis

• Major axis

• Conjugate axis

a pair of special points used in describing conic sections. A circle and a parabola have one focus; an ellipse and a hyperbola have two foci.

• Foci

• Directrix

• Eccentricity

• Vertex of a conic section

a point at which a conic section intersects its axis of symmetry

• Parabola

• Hyperbola

• Vertex of a conic section

• Ellipse

a line about which a figure is symmetric

• Conjugate axis

• Minor axis

• Major axis

• Axis of symmetry

A line that graph approaches but never intersects

• Asymptotes

• Hyperbola

• Ellipse

• Axis of symmetry

A line such that the distance from any point of a parabola to the focus is equal to the perpendicular distance from the point to that line.

• Conjugate axis

• Ellipse

• Asymptotes

• Directrix

the axis of symmetry of an ellipse which contains the foci

• Minor axis

• Major axis

• Axis of symmetry

• Directrix

the locus of all points in a plane such that the sum of the distances from two given points in the plane, called foci, is constant.

• Circle

• Hyperbola

• Vertex of a conic section

• Ellipse