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Revision as of 15:54, 13 June 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 = square root( (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.