The Student Room Group

Math HL Exploration Topic

Hey, I'm a little confused on what ellipses reflective property is. I intend to choose it for my exploration topic but do not know to explore it, like what do I do with it. Any help is welcome. Thanks!
Original post by jasmine2110
Hey, I'm a little confused on what ellipses reflective property is. I intend to choose it for my exploration topic but do not know to explore it, like what do I do with it. Any help is welcome. Thanks!


The reflection property of an ellipse usually refers to the fact that if a light ray leaves one of the foci of an ellipse and is reflected off the ellipse itself, the ray proceeds through the other focus.

I assume this exploration is for the IB? There are quite a few examples on-line of the sort of level of discuission required; so why not take a look at them to get some ideas of how much and how far you have to take it.

Some ideas to get you started, though: you could start by simply defining what an ellipse is, choosing a definition that is most amenable to proving the reflection property; then prove it! There's a natural connection between the reflection property and optics; so how about taking the discussion further and talking about possible applications (and even some practical difficulties in application?) Finally, are there analogous properties for other conic sections?

Quick Reply

Latest