[Math] Find the eccentricity of a conic

conic sectionsgeometry

Find the eccentricity $e$ of the conic $$S \equiv 39x^2+11y^2-96xy+14x+2y-34=0.$$

My try:

Comparing with general second degree conic $$ax^2+2hxy+by^2+2gx+2fy+c=0$$ we have

$a=39$, $b=11$, $2h=-96$, $2g=14$, $2f=2$ and $c=-34$

The determinant $$\Delta=\begin{vmatrix}
39 & -48&7 \\
-48& 11 & 1\\
7&1 & -34
\end{vmatrix} \ne 0$$ and

$h^2-ab \gt 0$, and hence the conic is a Hyperbola.

Now since there is $xy$ term one way is to rotate the axes to make $xy$ term zero by angle $$\tan(2\theta)=\frac{-96}{28}.$$ But the algebra is very tedious. Is there any other approach?

Best Answer

The formula derived in this answer is $$ e^2=\frac{2\sqrt{(A{-}C)^2+B^2}}{\sigma(A{+}C)+\sqrt{(A{-}C)^2+B^2}} $$ Setting $A=39,B=-96,C=11,D=14,E=2,F=-34$ gives $$ \begin{align} e^2&=\frac{2\cdot100}{-50+100}=4\\ e&=2 \end{align} $$ since $\sigma=\operatorname{sign}\left(F\!\left(B^2-4AC\right)+\left(AE^2{-}BDE{+}CD^2\right)\right)=\operatorname{sign}\left(-250000\right)=-1$

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