Definition:Diameter of Conic Section/Also defined as
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Definition
Some sources define the diameter of a conic section $\KK$ as a chord of $\KK$ which passes through the center of $\KK$.
This is a perfectly adequate definition of a diameter of an ellipse.
Indeed, in the context of a circle, this is how a diameter is routinely defined.
However, the definition does not work so well in the context of:
- a hyperbola, as it does not encompass diameters which are not chords
- a parabola, which does not have a center.
Hence, for the general conic section, and one that is not specifically a circle, this definition is not used on $\mathsf{Pr} \infty \mathsf{fWiki}$.
Also see
- Results about diameters of conic sections can be found here.
Sources
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): diameter