conic section
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The four types of curve that may be obtained by cutting a single or double right-circular cone with a plane (two-dimensional surface).
Curve obtained when a conical surface is intersected by a plane. If the intersecting plane cuts both extensions of the cone, it yields a hyperbola; if it is parallel to the side of the cone, it produces a parabola. Other intersecting planes produce circles or ellipses.
The Greek mathematician Apollonius of Perga wrote eight books with the title Conic Sections, which superseded previous work on the subject by Aristarchus and Euclid.
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