Cartesian coordinates[edit]

An east-west opening hyperbola centered at (h,k) has the equation

The major axis runs through the center of the hyperbola and intersects both arms of the hyperbola at
the vertices (bend points) of the arms. The foci lie on the extension of the major axis of the hyperbola.
The minor axis runs through the center of the hyperbola and is perpendicular to the major axis.
In both formulas a is the semi-major axis (half the distance between the two arms of the hyperbola
measured along the major axis),[2] and bis the semi-minor axis (half the distance between the
asymptotes along a line tangent to the hyperbola at a vertex).
If one forms a rectangle with vertices on the asymptotes and two sides that are tangent to the
hyperbola, the sides tangent to the hyperbola are 2b in length while the sides that run parallel to the
line between the foci (the major axis) are 2a in length. Note that b may be larger thana despite the
names minor and major.
If one calculates the distance from any point on the hyperbola to each focus, the absolute value of
the difference of those two distances is always 2a.
The eccentricity is given by

If c equals the distance from the center to either focus, then

where
.
The distance c is known as the linear eccentricity of the hyperbola. The distance
between the foci is 2c or 2a.
The foci for an east-west opening hyperbola are given by

and for a north-south opening hyperbola are given by

.
The directrices for an east-west opening hyperbola are given by

and for a north-south opening hyperbola are given by

Hyperbola

A hyperbola (plural "hyperbolas"; Gray 1997, p. 45) is a conic section defined as the locus of all points
the plane the difference of whose distances
separated by a distance

and

from two fixed points (the foci

in
and

is a given positiveconstant ,

(1
)
(Hilbert and Cohn-Vossen 1999, p. 3). Letting

fall on the left -intercept requires that

(2
)
so the constant is given by

, i.e., the distance between the -intercepts (left figure above). The hyperbola has

the important property that a ray originating at a focus

reflects in such a way that the outgoing path lies along the
line from the other focus through the point of intersection (right figure above).
The special case of the rectangular hyperbola, corresponding to a hyperbola with eccentricity
, was first
studied by Menaechmus. Euclid and Aristaeus wrote about the general hyperbola, but only studied one branch of it.
The hyperbola was given its present name by Apollonius, who was the first to study both branches.
The focus and conic section directrix were considered by Pappus (MacTutor Archive). The hyperbola is the shape of

an orbit of a body on an escape trajectory (i.e., a body with positive energy), such as some comets, about a fixed
mass, such as the sun.

The hyperbola can be constructed by connecting the free end

other focus

with a string

the bar), the locus of

. As the bar

is rotated about

Let the point

gives

and

, where

is a focus, and the

is kept taut against the bar (i.e., lies on

is one branch of a hyperbola (left figure above; Wells 1991). A theorem of Apollonius states

that for a line segment tangent to the hyperbola at a point

then

of a rigid bar

is constant, and

and intersecting the asymptotes at points

and

(right figure above; Wells 1991).

on the hyperbola have Cartesian coordinates

, then the definition of the hyperbola

(3
)
Rearranging and completing the square gives

(4

)
and dividing both sides by

results in

(5
)
By analogy with the definition of the ellipse, define

(6
)
so the equation for a hyperbola with semimajor axis
axis is given by

parallel to the x-axis and semiminor axis

parallel to the y-

(7
)
or, for a center at the point

instead of

(8
)
Unlike the ellipse, no points of the hyperbola actually lie on the semiminor axis, but rather the ratio
the vertical scaling of the hyperbola. The eccentricity
as

of the hyperbola (which always satisfies

determines
) is then defined

(9
)

In the standard equation of the hyperbola, the center is located at

, the foci are at

, and the

vertices are at
. The so-called asymptotes (shown as the dashed lines in the above figures) can be found
by substituting 0 for the 1 on the right side of the general equation (8),

(1
0)
and therefore have slopes

The special case

(the left diagram above) is known as a rectangular hyperbola because
the asymptotes are perpendicular.

The hyperbola can also be defined as the locus of points whose distance from the focus
horizontal distance from a vertical line
ratio and

is proportional to the

known as the conic section directrix, where the ratio is

. Letting

be the

the distance from the center at which the directrix lies, then
(11)

(12)

where

is therefore simply the eccentricity .

Like noncircular ellipses, hyperbolas have two distinct foci and two associated conic section directrices, each conic
section directrixbeing perpendicular to the line joining the two foci (Eves 1965, p. 275).
The focal parameter of the hyperbola is
(13)

(14)

(15)

In polar coordinates, the equation of a hyperbola centered at the origin (i.e., with

) is

(1
6)

In polar coordinates centered at a focus,

(1
7)
as illustrated above.
The two-center bipolar coordinates equation with origin at a focus is

(1
8)
Parametric equations for the right branch of a hyperbola are given by
(19)
(20)
where
hyperbola.

is the hyperbolic cosine and

is the hyperbolic sine, which ranges over the right branch of the

A parametric representation which ranges over both branches of the hyperbola is

(21)
(22)
with
and discontinuities at
parametrization are

. The arc length, curvature, and tangential angle for the above

(23)

(24)

(25)

where

is an elliptic integral of the second kind.

The special affine curvature of the hyperbola is

(2
6)
The locus of the apex of a variable cone containing an ellipse fixed in three-space is a hyperbola through the foci of
the ellipse. In addition, the locus of the apex of a cone containing that hyperbola is the original ellipse. Furthermore,
the eccentricities of the ellipseand hyperbola are reciprocals