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Math 126: Honors Project

Project: Hyperboloidal Sections

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Due
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Recall (from some long-ago math class) the foul conic sections: circles, ellipses, parabolm, and hyperboim.
(Ugh, fine, "parabolas" and "hyperbolas". Whatever-.) These are the shapes you get when you cut a cone
with a plane. In this project, we'll explole what that reallv means, and what happens when you cr-rt sorne
other quadric surfaces with a plane.

1. Now that you l<now the equations for cones and planes, forrlalize the whole "cutting a cone with a
plane" business. That is, if I say "such-and-such is a conic section", what does that really rnea,n,

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2. Let's tall< about "hypelboloidal sections": whal curves cal] you get bv r-naking a planar cuL oI a
alsebraically?

hyperboloid of one sheet?

t-r, list of all possible shapes you cail create, ext-imples of how
shapes, and an explanation of how you know your list isn't missing anything.

This requires three things:

to get those

3. How about "ellipsoidal sections", fbrrned by cutting through an ellipsoicl with a plane? What culves
can yon end Lrp with?

4. Finally, what about "hyperbolic paraboloidal sections", obtained by slicing through a hyperi:olic
paraboloid?

Rules and Regulations

(i)

You should work on your own. Please don't rnake me suspicions of copying. You may ask me for help,
but no one else.

(ii) Your writeup rnay be handwritten or typed, or a combination of both, but it

should be easy to read.

You probably want to worl< through the problems first on a separate piece of paper, and then write ttp
your cleir,nest soluIions.

(iii)

Show your thought plocess, but not necessalily all of youl algebla. "X simplifies to Y" is okay, even
if it originally took you a while to work that out. Don't be purposely longwindedl Brevity is good in
rnathematics. Overall, your goal is to be clear.

(iv) Use sentences when you want to explain something. Use calculatious when you want to compnte
somethiirg. Use pictures when you rvant the reacler to visualize something. The best mathematics
papers include a mix of all three.

(v) I expect

your.. work will take up abont three or fbur pages, but maybe rrole or less depencling on how
yoll go tr,bout solving the problern. There's no officit-il minimum or rnnxirnum.

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