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Conic sections are some of the oldest curves studied in mathematics. Conic sections are curves created by planes slicing double-napped cones at various angles. Conic sections appear to have been discovered by a Greek mathematician named Menaechmus in the fourth century B.C. while he was attempting to trisect the angle, duplicate the cube, and square the circle. Another Greek mathematician, Apollonius of Perga, expanded on the discoveries and wrote an eight book collection titled "Conic Sections" in the second century B.C. The Greeks generally concentrated on the geometric aspects of conic sections. It wasn't until the sixteenth century that conics were used by mathematicians to solve practical problems, like the motions of objects on earth and space. |
