Sigma Percentile
JEE Main 2022 (26 June Shift 2)
LEVELJEE Main

Animated Solution for Mathematics - Conic Sections: The locus of the mid point of the line segment joining the point and the points on the ellipse is an ellipse with eccentricity :

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Visualized Solution

Visualizing the Setup

  • Given Ellipse:
  • Fixed Point:
  • Objective: Find the eccentricity of the locus of the midpoint of , where is any point on the ellipse.

Standard Form of the Ellipse

  • Divide the equation by :
  • Standard Form:
  • Here, and .

Parametric Coordinates of Point

  • Any point on the ellipse is .
  • For our ellipse:
  • Coordinates of :

Defining the Midpoint

  • Let be the midpoint of and .
  • Draw the line segment .
  • The midpoint will trace a path as moves.

Applying the Midpoint Formula

  • Using Midpoint Formula:

Isolating

  • From :

Isolating

  • From :

Eliminating the Parameter

  • Use the fundamental trigonometric identity:
  • Substitute the isolated expressions:

Simplifying the Locus Equation

  • Expand the squared term for :
  • Factor out from the term inside the square:

Standard Form of the Locus

  • Replace with to get the general locus:
  • This is an ellipse of the form
  • Where and

Calculating Eccentricity

  • Eccentricity formula:
  • Substitute and :

Conclusion

  • Final Answer: The eccentricity of the locus is .
  • Key Takeaway: The locus of the midpoint of a segment joining a fixed point and a point on an ellipse is another ellipse with the same eccentricity as the original one!
  • Notice the original ellipse had .

The Sigma Insight: Standard Equations of Parabola, Ellipse, and Hyperbola

Solution Diagram

Analyzing the Setup

The given ellipse is defined by the equation . To understand its geometry, we divide the entire equation by :
From this standard form, we identify the semi-major axis and the semi-minor axis . This establishes our foundation for the moving point on the perimeter.

The Parametric Dance

To track the motion of point effectively, we utilize the parametric representation . Substituting our known values, the coordinates of are:
As the parameter varies from to , point traces the entire boundary of the ellipse. This parameterization is essential for eliminating the constraint during the derivation of the locus.

The Midpoint Bridge

Let be the midpoint of the segment connecting the fixed point and the moving point . Using the midpoint formula, we define the coordinates of as:
These equations link the locus coordinates to the parameter . Our goal is to eliminate to find the path traced by .

Algebraic Alchemy

We isolate the trigonometric functions from the midpoint equations:
Applying the fundamental trigonometric identity , we substitute our expressions:
Expanding the second term, we obtain:

Final Calculation

To express the locus in standard form, we factor out the coefficient of :
Replacing with , the final equation of the locus is:
This result confirms that the locus is an ellipse centered at . The eccentricity of this new ellipse is calculated as:
This demonstrates that the midpoint transformation preserves the eccentricity of the original conic section.

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