 Semi-major and semi-minor axes

The semi-major and semi-minor axes are the larger and smaller half-axis lengths of an ellipse. In principal-axis coordinates the ellipse has equation $x^2/a^2+y^2/b^2=1$ with $a\ge b>0$. The same terminology is used for a hyperbola $x^2/a^2-y^2/b^2=1$, where $a$ is half its transverse axis and $b$ half its conjugate axis. Orbital semiaxes apply these geometric quantities to conic sections.