| Revision as of 15:54, 13 June 2002 edit203.96.111.200 (talk)No edit summary← Previous edit | Revision as of 23:07, 1 October 2002 edit undoBryan Derksen (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users95,333 editsmNo edit summaryNext edit → | ||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| In ], eccentricity is a measure of how much an ellipse deviates from a circle. | In ], eccentricity is a measure of how much an ellipse deviates from a circle. | ||
| To calculate the eccentricity of any ellipse, measure the semi-major axis | To calculate the eccentricity of any ellipse, measure the semi-major axis and call it ''a''. Measure the semi-minor axis and call that measurement ''b''. Now: | ||
| and call it <i>a</i>. Measure the semi-minor axis and call that measurement | |||
| <i>b</i>. Now: | |||
| :eccentricity = |
:eccentricity = ''e'' = √( (''a''<sup>2</sup> - ''b''<sup>2</sup>)/''a''<sup>2</sup>) | ||
| The eccentricity of an ] is greater than zero and smaller than 1 | The eccentricity of an ] is greater than zero and smaller than 1 | ||
Revision as of 23:07, 1 October 2002
In mathematics, eccentricity is a measure of how much an ellipse deviates from a circle.
To calculate the eccentricity of any ellipse, measure the semi-major axis and call it a. Measure the semi-minor axis and call that measurement b. Now:
- eccentricity = e = √( (a - b)/a)
The eccentricity of an ellipse is greater than zero and smaller than 1
The eccentricity of a circle is zero.
The eccentricity of a parabola is 1.
The eccentricity of a hyperbola is greater than 1.
In astronomy, eccentricity refers to the deviation of an object's orbital motion from a circular orbit, according to the mathematical formula given above.
In popular usage, eccentricity refers to unusual or odd behavior on the part of a person.