Thesis (doctoral)--Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin, 1882. / Vita.

Circles, parabolas, ellipses and hyperbolas are conic sections and have many unique properties. The properties of the tangents to conic sections prove quite interesting. Dandelin spheres are tangent to ellipses inside a cone and support the geometric definition of an ellipse. Tangent lines to parabolas, ellipses and hyperbolas in the form of families of folds are shown to create conic sections in unique ways. The equations of these tangent lines to conic sections and their equations can be found without using calculus. The equations of the tangent lines are also used to prove the bisection theorem for all conic sections and prove uniqueness for the bisection theorem in connection to conic sections. / text

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Mathematics / Master / Master of Philosophy

Proefschrift--Utrecht. / "Stellingen": [2] p. inserted. "Summary": 1 p. at end.

Proefschrift--Utrecht. / "Stellingen": [2] p. inserted. "Summary": 1 p. at end.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America, 1927. / Biographical sketch.

The discovery of conic sections was made by Menaechmus (375-325 B.C.) an associate of Plato and a pupil of Eudoxus. This discovery, in the course of only a century, raised geometry to the loftiest height which it was destined to reach during antiquity.

An affine transformation such as T(P)=Q is a locus of an affine conic. Any affine conic can be produced from this incidence construction. The affine type of conic (ellipse, parabola, hyperbola) is determined by the invariants of T, the determinant and trace of its linear part. The purpose of this thesis is to obtain a corresponding classification in the hyperbolic plane of conics defined by this construction.

The purpose of this thesis is to give a detailed group theoretic proof of the rank formula in a more general setting. By using the proof of Mordell-Weil theorem, a formula for the rank of the elliptical curves in certain cases over algebraic number fields can be obtained and computable.

The Conics of Apollonius remains a central work of Greek mathematics to this day. Despite this, much recent scholarship has neglected the Conics in favor of works of Archimedes. While these are no less important in their own right, a full understanding of the Greek mathematical corpus cannot be bereft of systematic studies of the Conics. However, recent scholarship on Archimedes has revealed that the role of secondary commentaries is also important. In this thesis, I provide a translation of Eutocius' commentary on the Conics, demonstrating the interplay between the two works and their authors as what I call conjugate. I also give a treatment on the duplication problem and on compound ratios, topics which are tightly linked to the Conics and the rest of the Greek mathematical corpus. My discussion of the duplication problem also includes two computer programs useful for visualizing Archytas' and Eratosthenes' solutions.