Maths

Class 11

Maths · Class 11 · Chapter 10

Conic Sections

12 lessons 99 min 2 simulations

This chapter meets four curves that all come from slicing a double cone with a plane: the circle, the parabola, the ellipse and the hyperbola, together with the point, line and line-pair that appear when the plane passes through the vertex. Each curve is then defined as a set of points with a distance property, and that definition is turned into a standard equation with the vertex or centre at the origin. From the standard equations the chapter reads off foci, vertices, axes, eccentricity and the length of the latus rectum, and ends with mirrors, beams and a sliding rod.

Start

What the exam asks

For JEE Main, conics carry steady marks: centre and radius by completing the square, the focus, directrix and latus rectum of a parabola, and for the ellipse and hyperbola the relations c² = a² − b² and c² = a² + b², the eccentricity, the foci and the latus rectum 2b²/a. The usual losses come from mixing those two relations and from misreading which axis is the major or transverse one. JEE also asks about tangents, normals, parametric forms and shifted conics, which the rationalised text does not cover, so those need practice from other material.

Lessons

12 lessons · 99 min