Ellipses

An ellipse is a smooth, oval-shaped curve that resembles stretched or squished circles. It is defined as the set of all points where the sum of the distances to two fixed points, called foci, is constant. Ellipses are common in nature and engineering, such as planetary orbits and reflective surfaces. They have two axes: the longer one (major axis) and the shorter one (minor axis). The shape of an ellipse depends on how elongated it is; if both axes are equal, it becomes a perfect circle.