Exploring the Mathematics behind Ellipses: Derivation of Equations

The main properties of an ellipse is that any point on the curve, the sum of the distance from the 2 foci is constant. The ellipse has a major axis and minor axis with two focus points F1 and F2

Let there be a point of the ellipse P(x,y) let the Focus points have co-ordinates F1(-c,0) and F2(c,0). The Major axis has distance 2a and the Minor axis has distance 2b.

See below for the derivation of the equation of an ellipse