(Law of Orbits) Eccentricity is the measure of an ellipse's degree of deviation from a circle.

What is the relationship of the semimajor(a) and semiminor(b) axes with respect to the eccentricity of an ellipse.

Say for example: The greater the difference of a and b, the higher the eccentricity..is this right?

Question

(Law of Orbits) Eccentricity is the measure of an ellipse's degree of deviation from a circle.

What is the relationship of the semimajor(a) and semiminor(b) axes with respect to the eccentricity of an ellipse.

Say for example: The greater the difference of a and b, the higher the eccentricity..is this right?

anonymous · Answer

basically eccen. is degree of flatness exact relation b/w a and b is a^2=(1-e^2)b^2