ellipsoid

Noun

 * 1)  A surface, all of whose cross sections are elliptic or circular (including the sphere), that generalises the ellipse and in Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z) is a quadric with equation x2/a2 + y2/b2 + z2/c2 = 1.
 * 2)  Such a surface used as a model of the shape of the earth.
 * 1)  Such a surface used as a model of the shape of the earth.
 * 1)  Such a surface used as a model of the shape of the earth.
 * 1)  Such a surface used as a model of the shape of the earth.

Usage notes
The general case, with semiaxes a, b and c all different, is a (more rarely, ). If two are the same, say b = c, the result is an, which may be (if a < b) or  (a > b). The degenerate case a = b = c is a sphere. An is also called a.

Hypernyms

 * surface, quadric

Translations

 * Bengali:
 * Catalan: el·lipsoide
 * Czech: elipsoid
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * German: ,
 * Hungarian:
 * Icelandic: sporvala
 * Kazakh: эллипсоид
 * Latin:
 * Romanian:
 * Russian:
 * Spanish: elipsoide
 * Swedish:
 * Thai: ทรงรี
 * Zazaki: elipsoid

Adjective

 * 1) Shaped like an ellipse; elliptical.
 * 2)  Of or pertaining to an ellipse; elliptic.
 * 3)  Having the tridimensional shape of an ellipse rotated on its long axis.

Translations

 * Finnish:


 * Finnish:, ellipsoidinen