Construction Of An Ellipse

| View Cart ⇗ | Info

An illustration showing how to construct an ellipse using a string. “Having given the two axes, set off from c half the great axis at a and b, which are the two focuses of the ellipse. Take an endless string as long as the three sides in the triangle abc, fix two pins or nails in the focuses, one in a and one in b, lay the string around a and b, stretch it with a pencil d, which then will describe the desired ellipse.”

Source

Albert A. Hopkins Scientific America: Handy Book Of Facts And Formulas (New York: Munn & Co., Inc., 1918) 39

Downloads

TIFF (full resolution)

2400×1765, 268.9 KiB

Large GIF

1024×753, 42.4 KiB

Medium GIF

640×470, 25.2 KiB

Small GIF

320×235, 11.0 KiB