Locus
A locus is the set of all points (usually forming a curve or surface) satisfying some condition. For example, the locus of points in a plane that are equidistant from a given point is a circle.
Locus is a high school-level concept that would be first encountered in a pre-calculus course covering conic sections.
It is listed in the California State Standards for Mathematical Analysis.
Examples
| Circle: |
A circle is the set of points in a plane that are equidistant from a given center point. |
| Ellipse: |
A conic section with eccentricity less than one. It resembles a squashed circle. |
| Hyperbola: |
A hyperbola is a conic section with eccentricity greater than one and consists of two separate branches. |
| Parabola: |
A parabola is a conic section with eccentricity equal to one. Parabolas appear as the graphs of quadratic equations and the trajectories of projectiles. |
Prerequisites
| Curve: |
A curve is a continuous map from a one-dimensional space to an n-dimensional space. Loosely speaking, the word "curve" is often used to mean the function graph of a two- or three-dimensional curve. |
| Surface: |
A surface is a two-dimensional piece of three-dimensional space. |
Classroom Articles on Conic Sections
Classroom Articles on Pre-Calculus (Up to High School Level)
