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What is the matter with negative r?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2021

Douglas Quadling*
Affiliation:
12 Archway Court, Barton Road, Cambridge CB3 9LW

Extract

Soon after the publication of the new edition of the SMP booklet Formulae for advanced mathematics with statistical tables, I received a letter from a colleague objecting to the statement that

“If the origin is taken at a focus of the conic,…, then the equation of the conic has the form

where e is the eccentricity …”

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1991

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