An Elliptic Identity

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Let E be a point on an ellipse, O its center, F and G its two foci, and P the point on the tangent line to E such that OP is perpendicular to the tangent line. Then the identity is . Drag the point E to see that the identity holds for ellipses of different shapes and sizes.

Contributed by: Jay Warendorff (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA


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"Problems and Solutions," The American Mathematical Monthly, 85(10), 1978 pp. 29–32, problem B-4.



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