Conics
The diagram illustrates how slicing a cone at different angles with a plane results in three types of conic sections: ellipses, hyperbolas, and parabolas (with the circle being a special case of the ellipse). This understanding of conic sections dates back to ancient Greek mathematicians, notably Apollonius of Pergamon, who systematically studied their properties around 200 BC. Planes that pass through the vertex of the cone will intersect the cone at a point, a line, or a pair of intersecting lines and are called degenerate conics.
