As A Degenerate Ellipse
A line segment can be viewed as a degenerate case of an ellipse in which the semiminor axis goes to zero, the foci go to the end points, and the eccentricity goes to one. As a degenerate orbit this is a radial elliptic trajectory.
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Famous quotes containing the words degenerate and/or ellipse:
“Our brave forefathers have exterminated all the Indians, and their degenerate children no longer dwell in garrisoned houses nor hear any war-whoop in their path.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Mankind is not a circle with a single center but an ellipse with two focal points of which facts are one and ideas the other.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)