Conic Sections and Optical Lens
Michael M. Stolnitz
Abstract
The emergence of conic sections (ellipse, parabola, hyperbola) as images of a circle in a thin lens is considered. Analogies with the sequence of changes in the shape of the orbits of artificial Earth satellites ("Newton's cannon") are discussed. The philosophical interpretation of the results in the spirit of "Plato's cave" as a model of human cognition is discussed.
Speaker
Michael M. Stolnitz
Saratov State University, Saranov
Russia
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