- #1
quantizedzeus
- 24
- 0
I'm totally confused...i don't understand conic sections. Why do these curves so special? They are described as results of a cone cut by a plane and the equations are constructed from the distances from a point and directrix. We find evidence of these curves everywhere-in projectiles, in planets' orbits and so on. But after trying a lot i still can't get them intuitively. I tried to study history of conics sothat i can understand what problems or consequences lead the mathematicians to build these ideas. But all went in vain. I'm still so confused. Can anyone make me understand what these things really are? Why are they so important in our daily life? Why are they constructed/described in many different ways? Plz help...please...and sorry for my bad english. And thank you so much for any kind of help.