In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of both distances to the two focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in which the two focal points are the same. The elongation of an ellipse is measured by its eccentricity
, a number ranging from
(the limiting case of a circle) to
(the limiting case of infinite elongation, no longer an ellipse but a parabola).
An ellipse has a simple algebraic solution for its area, but for its perimeter (also known as circumference), integration is required to obtain an exact solution.
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