XXXVI. Properties of the conic sections; deduced by a compendious method. Being a work of the late William Jones, Esq; F. R. S. which he formerly communicated to Mr. John Robertson, Libr. R. S. who now addresses it to the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne, F. R. S. Astronomer Royal.

Abstract

Sir, You well know that the curves formed by the sections of a cone, and therefore called Conic Sections, have, from the earliest ages of geometry, engaged the attention of mathematicians, on account of their extensive utility in the solution of many problems, which were incapable of being constructed by an possible combination of right lines and circles, the magnitudes used in plane geometry.