- Employ the elliptic coordinates n,, and -=n+Vi, such that z=cch?, cchncos,y=cshnsin-; (1) then the curves for which n and are constant are confocal ellipses and hyperbolas, and -d(n,) =c 2 (ch 2 n - cost) = 2c 2 (ch2n-cos2) = r i r 2 = OD 2, (2) if OD is the semi-diameter conjugate to OP, and ri, r 2 the focal distances, rl,r2 = c (ch n cos 0; r 2 = x2 +y2 = c 2 (ch 2 n - sin20 = 1c 2 (ch 2 7 7 +cos 2?).
The isothermals are approximately equilateral hyperbolas (pv= constant), with the axes of p and v for asymptotes, for a gas or unsaturated vapour, but coincide with the isopiestics for a saturated vapour in presence of its liquid.
First, if the three intersections by the line infinity are all distinct, we have the hyperbolas; if the points are real, the redundant hyperbolas, with three hyperbolic branches; but if only one of them is real, the defective hyperbolas, with one hyperbolic branch.
Secondly, if two of the intersections coincide, say if the line infinity meets the curve in a onefold point and a twofold point, both of them real, then there is always one asymptote: the line infinity may at the twofold point touch the curve, and we have the parabolic hyperbolas; or the twofold point may be a singular point, - viz., a crunode giving the hyperbolisms of the hyperbola; an acnode, giving the hyperbolisms of the ellipse; or a cusp, giving the hyperbolisms of the parabola.
It is to be remarked that the classification mixes together non-singular and singular curves, in fact, the five kinds presently referred to: thus the hyperbolas and the divergent parabolas include curves of every kind, the separation being made in the species; the hyperbolisms of the hyperbola and ellipse, and the trident curve, are nodal; the hyperbolisms of the parabola, and the cubical parabola, are cuspidal.