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Ellipsoid

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ellipsoid
a geometric surface, symmetrical about the three coordinate axes, whose plane sections are ellipses or circles. Standard equation: x2/a2 + y2/b2 + z2/c2 = 1, where ?a, ?b, ?c are the intercepts on the x-, y-, and z- axes

ellipsoid [ə′lip‚sȯid]
(mathematics)
A surface whose intersection with every plane is an ellipse (or circle).

Ellipsoid 

a closed central quadric surface. An ellipsoid has a center of symmetry O (see Figure 1) and three axes of symmetry, which are called the axes of the ellipsoid. The plane sections of

Figure 1

ellipsoids are ellipses; in particular, one can always find a plane section that is a circle. In a suitable coordinate system the equation of an ellipsoid has the form



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Like Sir George Cayley's balloon, his own was an ellipsoid.
 
 
 
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