Definition Of The Hyperbola

March 4

A hyperbola (Greek ὑπερβολή) is a conic section, an open curve with two branches obtained by cutting a right cone by a plane oblique to the axis of symmetry with angle less than the generatrix to the axis of revolution.

"A hyperbola is the locus of points in a plane such that the absolute value of the difference of their distances from two fixed points, called foci, is equal to the distance between vertices, which is a positive constant"

According to tradition, the conic sections were discovered by Menaechmus, in his study of the problem of duplication of the cube, which proves the existence of a solution by cutting a parabola with a hyperbola, which is later confirmed by Proclus and Eratosthenes.

However, the first to use the term hyperbole was Apollonius of Perga, in his treatise Conics, considered a masterpiece on