Ellipse

An ellipse is a curved, oval-shaped figure that can be thought of as a stretched circle. It is defined as the set of all points where the sum of the distances to two fixed points, called foci, remains constant. This shape appears in nature and engineering, such as the orbits of planets and the design of reflective surfaces. An ellipse has two axes: the longer one (major axis) and the shorter one (minor axis), crossing at the center. It’s a fundamental geometric shape that combines symmetry and smooth curves, characterized mathematically by specific equations in coordinate systems.