Find the eccentricity of an ellipse whose latus - rectum is

(i) Half of its minor axis


(ii) Half of its major axis

Given that we need to find the eccentricity of an ellipse.


(i) If latus - rectum is half of its minor axis


We know that the length of the semi - minor axis is b and the length of the latus - rectum is .



a = 2b .... (1)


We know that eccentricity of an ellipse is


From (1)






.


(ii) If latus - rectum is half of its major axis


We know that the length of the semi - major axis is a and the length of the latus - rectum is .



a2 = 2b2 .... (1)


We know that eccentricity of an ellipse is


From (1)






.


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