hyperbola
the set of points in a plane whose distances to two fixed points in the plane have a constant difference; a curve consisting of two distinct and similar branches, formed by the intersection of a plane with a right circular cone when the plane makes a greater angle with the base than does the generator of the cone. Equation:x2/a2 − y2/b2 = ±1.
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Origin of hyperbola
1Words Nearby hyperbola
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use hyperbola in a sentence
What’s more, the two given points were the local maximum and minimum of the two halves of the hyperbola.
The planet would then have moved in a parabola, or an hyperbola, curves not returning into themselves.
A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive | John Stuart MillTo assimilate the hyperbola to the ellipse was rather to contradict this evidence.
Only on the assumption that the social value curve for this totality of commodities is a rectangular hyperbola.
Social Value | B. M. AndersonWhen the conic is a hyperbola the meridian line is in the form of a looped curve (fig. 12).
This is the equation of an hyperbola whose center is on the axis of abscisses.
British Dictionary definitions for hyperbola
/ (haɪˈpɜːbələ) /
a conic section formed by a plane that cuts both bases of a cone; it consists of two branches asymptotic to two intersecting fixed lines and has two foci. Standard equation: x ²/ a ² – y ²/ b ² = 1 where 2 a is the distance between the two intersections with the x -axis and b = a √(e ² – 1), where e is the eccentricity
Origin of hyperbola
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for hyperbola
[ hī-pûr′bə-lə ]
A plane curve having two separate parts or branches, formed when two cones that point toward one another are intersected by a plane that is parallel to the axes of the cones.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for hyperbola
[ (heye-pur-buh-luh) ]
Notes for hyperbola
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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