Latus Rectum

Pronunciation: /ˈlæ.təs ˈrɛk.təm/ Explain

The latus rectum of a conic section is a line segment passing through each vertex of the conic section, with endopints on the conic section itself.

Click on the blue points and on the slider and drag them to change the figure. The latus rectum is a line segment perpendicular to the major axis, passing through a focus, with endpoints on the conic section. Manipulative 1 - Latus Rectum Created with GeoGebra.

References

1. McAdams, David E.. All Math Words Dictionary, latus rectum. 2nd Classroom edition 20150108-4799968. pg 106. Life is a Story Problem LLC. January 8, 2015. Buy the book

More Information

• McAdams, David E.. Conic Section. allmathwords.org. All Math Words Encyclopedia. Life is a Story Problem LLC. 8/31/2018. https://www.allmathwords.org/en/c/conicsection.html.

Cite this article as:

McAdams, David E. Latus Rectum. 12/21/2018. All Math Words Encyclopedia. Life is a Story Problem LLC. https://www.allmathwords.org/en/l/latusrectum.html.

Image Credits

• All images and manipulatives are by David McAdams unless otherwise stated. All images by David McAdams are Copyright © Life is a Story Problem LLC and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Revision History

12/21/2018: Reviewed and corrected IPA pronunication. (McAdams, David E.)
8/31/2018: Removed broken links, updated license, implemented new markup, implemented new Geogebra protocol. (McAdams, David E.)
7/15/2018: Initial version. (McAdams, David E.)