[Math] How to calculate width and height of a 45° rotated ellipse bounded by a square

geometrytrigonometry

I'm coming from a programming background so I apologies if this is blindingly simple or I misuse terms. I have an ellipse bounded by a square. For simplicity the centre of the square and ellipse is the origin (0,0) while the square is 2 width and 2 height.

The ellipse is rotated -45° or +45° (angle in image) and I can easily work this out. The ellipse touches all sides of the square, and I also know the intersection points. In the image A is the distance between the corner and the intersection while B is the length of the long section (the other points are symmetric).

enter image description here

What is the width and height, as described in the image, of the ellipse?

Best Answer

Start with an ellipse with semi-axes $a\geq b$ in standard position, and intersect it with a $45^\circ$-line $x+y=s>0$, such that the two points of intersection coalesce. This is the case if $s=\sqrt{a^2+b^2}$, and for the point of tangency $(x_*,y_*)$ one obtains $x_*={a^2\over s}$, so that $s-x_*={b^2\over s}$.

In the case at hand the length $s=\sqrt{2}$ is given, and $${A\over B}={s-x_*\over x_*}={b^2\over a^2}\ .$$ We therefore have to solve the system $$a^2+b^2=2,\qquad {b^2\over a^2}={A\over B}$$ for $a$ and $b$. Since $A+B=2$ the result simplifies to $$a=\sqrt{B},\quad b=\sqrt{A}\ .$$

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