Contents

1 Parabolas 1

2 Circles 2

3 Ellipses 2

4 Hyperbolas 4

5 Exercies 5
 Chapter 10 Review
Answers to Selected Problems

1 Parabolas
Important Fact!!!
A parabola has only one squared term in its equation.

The equations for the two types of parabolas are:

4c(y − k) = (x − h)2 (Vertical) (1.1)

4c(x − h) = (y − k)2 (Horizontal) (1.2)

F
2c 2c
c

V
c
D :y =k−c x

Figure 1: 4c(y − k) = (x − h)2

y
D :x=h−c

2c

c c
F
V

2c

Figure 2: 4c(x − h) = (y − k)2

1
2 Circles
There are two equivalent equations for a circle with center at O(h, k) and with radius r:

(x − h)2 + (y − k)2 = r2 (2.1)

(x − h)2 (y − k)2
+ =1 (2.2)
r2 r2
Note that the second equation of a circle is similar to the ellipse formula, but differs in that
a2 = b2 = r2 (see Eq. 3.1 and Eq. 3.2).

r
O P

Figure 3: A circle: (x − h)2 + (y − k)2 = r2

3 Ellipses
An ellipse has two focus points (called foci) and the line which they lie is called the
major axis. This is where the ellipse is longer. The two extremes along the major axis are
called the vertices. The line perpendicular to the major axis that passes through the origin
is the minor axis, and the extremes of this axis are called the co-vertices. The center
O(h, k) of an ellipse is the midpoint of the vertices (or similarly the foci). The two equations
for ellipses are:
(x − h)2 (y − k)2
+ = 1 (Horizontal Major Axis) (3.1)
a2 b2
(x − h)2 (y − k)2
+ = 1 (Vertical Major Axis) (3.2)
b2 a2
In both equations, we always have a > b and they are the radii (plural of radius) of the
ellipse. The distance c from the the vertices to their corresponding foci is related to the radii
by the following formula
c 2 = a2 − b 2 (3.3)

2
 y

minor axis
a c x
F major axis O F

(x − h)2 (y − k)2
Figure 4: + = 1 (Horizontal)
a2 b2

y
F
major

b x
O minor

(x − h)2 (y − k)2
Figure 5: + = 1 (Vertical)
b2 a2

3
4 Hyperbolas
The equation of the hyperbola with center O(h, k) is very similar to the ellipse, except
it has a minus sign in between the two squared terms.

(x − h)2 (y − k)2
− = 1 (Horizontal) (4.1)
a2 b2
(y − k)2 (x − h)2
− = 1 (Vertical) (4.2)
a2 b2
The hyperbola opens in the direction of the positive term (or in the cases of the Eq. 4.1 and
Eq. 4.2, the leading term). The center is the midpoint of the vertices (or similarly, of the
foci). The value a is the distance between the vertices and their corresponding foci, and b
is the distance from the center to the edge of the guide box (see dashed box in Fig. 6). The
equation for the asymptotes of the hyperbola are
b
y = ± (x − h) + k (Horizontal) (4.3)
a
a
y = ± (x − h) + k (Vertical) (4.4)
b
Note that the value of the slope, although it looks confusing because it switches from a
to b and b to a, it is actually one formula; as slope is rise over run (or y over x), the slope
for the asymptotes are just the value under the y term over the value under the x term.
The equation for the distance c between the center and the foci is

c 2 = a2 + b 2 (4.5)

b
c a x
F V1 O V2 F

(x − h)2 (y − k)2
Figure 6: − = 1 (Horizontal)
a2 b2

4
5 Exercies
Exercise 11a Write an equation for a parabola with vertex at (1, 2) and focus at (1, 4).
Solution. The distance between the vertex and the focus is c = 2. Using Eq. 1.1, and noting
that the position of the focus implies we have a vertical parabola, we have
8(y − 2) = (x − 1)2 ,
or alternatively
1
y = (x − 1)2 + 2.
8
The directrix is at D : y = 2 − 2 = 0. See Fig. 1.
Exercise 11c Find an equation for an ellipse with vertices at (5, 0) and (−5, 0), and co-
vertices at (0, 2), (0, −2).
Solution. Using the midpoint formula, we see that the center O is at
 
5 + (−5) 0 + 0
O= , = (0, 0).
2 2
Quite easily then, we can determine that a = 5, b = 2 (since a > b). Since the vertices are
on the x-axis, we have a horizontal ellipse, and use Eq. 3.1 to obtain
x2 y 2
+ = 1.
25 4
See Fig. 4.
Exercise 12e Classify the conic section and write its equation in standard form:
x2 − 9y 2 + 12x − 36y + 9 = 0.
Solution. We begin by isolating our variables, followed by completing the square on the x
terms and the y terms. Remember to make the leading coefficients of the squared terms 1.
(x2 + 12x+ ) − 9(y 2 + 4y+ ) = −9.
To find what we need to add, we do the following to the middle (linear) terms
 2
12
= 62 = 36 (for x)
2
 2
4
= 22 = 4 (for y).
2
Thus, we have
(x2 + 12x + 36) − 9(y 2 + 4y + 4) = −9 + 36 + (4 · −9)
(x2 + 6) − 9(y 2 + 2) = −9
(x2 + 6) −9(y 2 + 2)
+ = 1.
−9 −9
Simplifying and rearranging the terms, we obtain
(y 2 + 2) (x2 + 6)
− = 1.
1 9
Hence, we have a vertical hyperbola.