Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/prelims/mathematics-iv/2/a/solution

For a fixed point not on a fixed line , the ellipse with focus of a conic , directrix of a conic and eccentricity is the locus of points satisfying
Set and . One matched focus of a conic and directrix of a conic pair is
Indeed the squared distance condition is
Expanding and cancelling the terms linear in gives
which is exactly . Both sides of the unsquared distance condition are nonnegative, so squaring introduces no extra points. Reflecting across the -axis gives the other matched pair: and , with the same eccentricity.

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