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:
“Were it not for the corruption and viciousness of degenerate men, there would be no ... necessity that men should separate from this great and natural community, and by positive agreements combine into smaller and divided associations.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)
“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)