The definition of an ellipse is the set of all points where the sum of the distances between two

points, called the foci, remains constant. That is, the sum of the distance between each point on
the ellipse to the first focus and from the same point on the ellipse to the other focus will always
be the same for every point on the ellipse. As with circles, the definition of an ellipse is
dependent on distance, so Taxicab ellipses look vastly different from their Euclidean
counterparts. In fact, taxicab ellipses will always be either a hexagon or an octagon.

In order to understand how to construct ellipses within Euclidean Geometry, using Geometer's
Sketchpad, please refer to Shannon Umbergers direction at the following website:

http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/emt668/EMAT6680.2000/Umberger/EMAT6680smu/Assign6smu/Assi
gn6smu.html

Remember, that an ellipse by definition (within Euclidean or non-Euclidean Geometry) is the set
of all points where the sum of their distances between the foci is always constant. For example,
in the figure below, the sum of the distance of AC and the distance of AB remains constant, no
matter where A lies on the ellipse.


Notice that the above figure is shaped like an oval. According to Reynolds and Fenton (2006)
ellipses will always be either hexagonal or octagonal in Taxicab geometry. To further describe
the ellipse, Reynolds and Fenton (2006) go on to say that one or two pairs of sides of the
ellipse will be horizontal and/or vertical, and the remaining four sides will follow the side taxi-
circles, which are line segments with slopes 1 (p. 127). The difference between hexagonal
ellipses and octagonal ellipses lie in the placement of the foci. Reynolds and Fenton (2006)
state that if the foci lie on the same vertical or horizontal line then the ellipse will be hexagonal
(p. 127). However, if the foci lie diagonally across from each other, the taxi-ellipse will be
octagonal (p. 127). To see this more clearly, refer to the figures below.




Unfortunately, we have not discovered a construction within GSP that we can generalize to all
taxi-ellipses. (This would be a great idea for future research.) However, if you would like to
construct an ellipse within GSP using specific foci, use the following instructions:

For Octagonal Ellipses:
1. Define a Coordinate System within GSP.
2. Plot a point (point A) anywhere on the left hand side of your GSP window.
3. Construct a line through point A that is parallel to the y-axis.
4. Construct a line segment AB that lies along the line you just created.
5. Plot point C on the line segment AB.
6. Construct line segments AC and CB. For easy viewing, it might be a good idea to change
the color of one of these segments.
7. Go to graph Plot points. Plot two points F1 and F2 to be your two foci for the ellipse.
The only stipulation here is that F1 and F2 should not have the same x or y values.
8. Using the TaxiCircleTool construct a Taxi-Circle centered at F1 with a radius of AC.
9. Again, using the TaxiCircleTool construct a Taxi-Circle centered at F2 with a radius of
CB.
10. Change the length of AB so that the distance between A and B is GREATER than the
distance between F1 and F2 (i.e. the taxi-circles need to intersect.)
11. Move point C along the segment so that it is close to point A.
12. Construct both points of intersection between the two taxi-circles. Then select one
intersection point and point C. Then click construct locus. Now select the other
intersection point and point C; click construct locus.
13 Move point C along the segment so that it is close to point B (close enough that the taxi-
circle intersection points no longer lie on a constructed locus) and repeat step 12.
14. Construct two lines (one parallel to the y-axis and one parallel to the x-axis) through
each focus point.
15. Construct four new points - one on each locus Through each point construct a line
parallel to the locus it lies on. Once this is done, you can hide these four points.
16. Now we want to create the endpoints of each locus. In order to do this, look at one end
of a locus, select the two intersecting lines, and create the intersection point. You will need
to complete this process 8 times in order to get each endpoint. At this point, your figure
should look similar to the one below.




17. Hide all of the intersecting lines (the green lines in the figure above).
18. Connect the endpoints of each locus by constructing line segments, in order to form the
octagonal shape.
19. Hide the taxi-circles and their intersection points. What is left is your completed octagonal
taxi-ellipse.



For Hexagonal Ellipses:

1. Define a Coordinate System within GSP.
2. Construct a line segment AB anywhere on the left hand side of your GSP window.
3. Plot point C on the line segment AB.
4. Construct line segments AC and CB. For easy viewing, it might be a good idea to change
the color of one of these segments.
5. Go to graph Plot points. Plot two points F1 and F2 to be your two foci for the ellipse.
This time, either the x-values OR the y-values need to be the same for both foci.
6. Using the TaxiCircleTool construct a Taxi-Circle centered at F1 with a radius of AC.
7. Again, using the TaxiCircleTool construct a Taxi-Circle centered at F2 with a radius of
CB.
8. Change the length of AB so that the distance between A and B is GREATER than the
distance between F1 and F2 (i.e. the taxi-circles need to intersect.)
9. Move point C towards the middle of segment AB.
10. Construct both points of intersection between the two taxi-circles. Then select one
intersection points and point C. Then click construct locus. Now select the other
intersection point and point C; click construct locus.
11. If your foci are vertical from each other, create lines that run through each foci and are
parallel to the x-axis. If your foci are horizontal from each other, create lines that run through
each foci and are parallel to the x-axis.
12. Construct two points - one point on each locus.
13. Through each of these two points, create lines that are perpendicular to your lines that
run through F1 and F2. Once these lines are created, you can hide these two points.
14. These four newly created lines should show 4 new intersection points. Create these
intersection points, G, H, I and J.
15. Select the uppermost intersection point to the left, and the lowermost intersection point
to the right. Then display the coordinate values for these two points.
16. Use the coordinate (x
1
, y
1
) of your uppermost, and furthest to the left point, graph a new
function that goes through this point and has a slope of 1. Hence, f(x) = (x-x
1
) + y
1
Change
this new line to display dashed so that it is easy to see the difference between this line and
your taxi-circles. Repeat this process for your lowermost and furthest right point.
17. Create a line that includes F1 and F2. This line should cross each of your new functions
at a point. Create these intersection points, X and Y.
18. X should be equally closest to two of your four (G, H, I, or J) points. Create two new line
segments that go from the new intersection point to the equally closest points (G, H, I, or J).
Change the display of these line segments to match the look of your locus. Do the same for
Y with its two equally closest points. At this point your window should look similar to the
image below.

19. Hide everything except for segment AB, and the line segments that form the hexagon
XGHYJI. To make your ellipse appear less cluttered, you can also hide the labels for points
X, G, H, Y, J, and I. What is left is your completed hexagonal taxi-ellipse.


Clearly, these constructions are not easy to do with GSP. Its also confusing because there isnt
one set construction method for all taxi-ellipses. Therefore, it might be easier to look at this
shape using Graphing Calculator instead of GSP.

The difference is that Graphing Calculator allows you to graph an equation where the
parameters can be easily adjusted. To do this for taxi-ellipses, we need to investigate what the
equation of a taxi-ellipse would look like.

As previously stated, the definition of an ellipse is the set of all points where the sum of their
distances between the foci is always constant. In Euclidean Geometry, the equation for an
ellipse would be

where (x,y) are the coordinates for any point on the ellipse, (h,k) is the center of the ellipse and
a and b are the lengths of the ellipses axes. So below, is the graph of an ellipse centered at
(0,0) with the length of the ellipse axis running parallel to the x-axis is 2, and the length of the
ellipse axis running parallel to the y-axis is 1.

The two red points are the foci. The foci always lie on the longest axis of the ellipse. If the
longest axis is parallel to the x-axis (as pictured above) then the foci are a distance of

away from the center, and hence have the coordinates

. If the longest
axis of the ellipse is parallel to the y-axis, then the foci are a distance of

away from the

center, and have the coordinates

).

In Taxicab Geometry, the definition of an ellipse still holds, but the equation is different. Still
defining an ellipse as the set of points where the sum of the distances between the foci is
always constant, we will have the following equation below.



In this equation, (x,y) is still the coordinate for any point on the ellipse. The two focal points are
(a,b) and (g,h) and the constant sum between the distances between the foci and any point on
the ellipse is d.

We can graph this equation in Graphing Calculator and then change the values of a, b, g, h, and
d as we want using the parameters established in the lower right hand corner of the formula
window.

Hence, for the following equation and definition of parameters in Graphing Calculator as below
we get the following taxi-ellipse.




Where the red points are the focal points.

Recall that we previously stated that a taxi-ellipse will be either octagonal or hexagonal,
depending on the location of the foci. Since the foci above are not located vertically or
horizontally across from each other, the constructed ellipse is an octagon. If you want to create
a hexagonal ellipse, simply change the foci parameter to where either a and g are the same, or
b and h are the same, as below.




In order to see the connection between a taxi-ellipse and an Euclidean ellipse, we can
manipulate the equation of a taxi-ellipse back to the standard form of an Euclidean ellipse.

Lets start easy and pick our focus points as (2,0) and (-2,0) with a constant summed distance of
6. Hence, the equation of our taxi-ellipse should be and
would look like the image below.



Finding the equation for an Euclidean ellipse with foci of (-2,0) and (2,0) with a constant
summed distance of 6 proves to be a little bit more challenging, simply because the Euclidean
ellipse is usually defined using the vertices and center of the ellipse instead of starting with the
foci. However, does that make sense intuitively? If the definition of an ellipse is the set of all
points that summed distance between the two foci remains constant, why should we not define
the equation based off the foci? The only main difference between Euclidean and Taxicab
geometry is how distance is defined.

The taxi-ellipse formula makes sense because we take the distance between (x,y) and (a,b) and
then the distance between (x,y) and (g,h), add these two distances together, and set them equal
to a constant. So what if we did the same thing for Euclidean ellipses?

In Euclidean geometry, the distance between (x,y) and (a,b) would be

and
the distance between (x,y) and (g,h) would be

. So our formula should be

This formula yields the following image for when (a,b) = (-2,0), (g,h) = (2,0) and d = 6.



This gives us the correct Euclidean ellipse given these two foci. Hence, an argument could be
made that students should be more familiar with this untraditional formula for an ellipse.

Comparing this graph with the graph in Taxicab Geometry, we get the following image.




Its important to note that there are some special cases that arise with the taxi-ellipse.
Remember that d is defined as the constant sum of the distance from our two foci points and
any point on the ellipse. Well what if d is the distance between our foci and the foci are located
vertically or horizontally from each other? Then the shape formed is no longer a hexagon or an
octagon. Consider the example below.


Notice that b=h, so we would initially think that the ellipse should be hexagonal. However, the
distance between a and g would then be 4, which should be our constant summed distance
between the foci and any point on the ellipse. So what happens? Our ellipse becomes a line.



Hence, if b=h and |a-g|=d OR a=g and |b-h|=d, then the ellipse degenerates to a line.

Now what if the foci do not lie on the vertically or horizontally from each other and the distance
between the foci is d? Do we still get a line?



In the formula above, we see that are foci are (0,0) and (3,1). Then the distance between these
two points would be |0-3|+|0-1| = 3+1 = 4 = d. Then we get the following image:



Because the figure is solid, this tells us that every point within the rectangle lies a distance of 4
units away from both of our foci.

Another special case to consider is when a=g AND b=h. When this is true, we only have one
focal point instead of the standard two. So then d becomes a constant distance around one
point instead of a summed distance around two points. Hence, If a=g AND b=h then the taxi-
ellipse becomes a taxi-circle.





Lastly, it seems important to talk about the conditions the parameters must satisfy. Since d must
be the constant sum of the distance between the foci and any point on an ellipse, it would make
sense that the foci cannot be further apart than this distance. If you try to graph this case using
Graphing Calculator, the program will give you an error saying Not satisfied in the region
shown.