Sentence Examples with the word Directrix

His proofs are generally long and clumsy; this is accounted for in some measure by the absence of symbols and technical terms. Apollonius was ignorant of the directrix of a conic, and although he incidentally discovered the focus of an ellipse and hyperbola, he does not mention the focus of a parabola.


Draw Pp and Qq touching both catenaries, Pp and Qq will intersect at T, a point in the directrix; for since any catenary with its directrix is a similar figure to any other catenary with its directrix, if the directrix of the one coincides with that of the other the centre of similitude must lie on the common directrix.

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Every catenary lying between them has its directrix higher, and every catenary lying beyond them has its directrix lower than that of the two catenaries.

Hence a catenoid whose directrix coincides with the axis of revolution has at every point its principal radii of curvature equal and opposite, so that the mean curvature of the surface is zero.


Since the tension is measured by the height above the directrix these two catenaries have the same directrix.


Now let us consider the surfaces of revolution formed by this system of catenaries revolving about the directrix of the two catenaries of equal tension.

A focus or directrix is equal to two conditions; hence such problems as: given a focus and three points; a focus, two points and one tangent; and a focus, one point and two tangents are soluble (very conveniently by employing the principle of reciprocation).