Drawing Ellipses

Here is an easy way to draw an ellipse by hand with a few basic materials.

Step 1 Materials

For this project you will need some string or yarn, two push pins, a writing utensil, and a some surface to draw on.

Comments

[Tangski]

Thank you! I use such shapes for creating sets for the Nature Center, in this case, an oval to paint pocupines inside of...as part of a title display panel! I needed a LARGE one, since they are over 6 feel high and 3 feel wide.:)

Knew it would be simple, but, was not quite sure..so thank you!

cheers.

[jeffconnelly]

Let's see...

To answer 3/4 of the comments on here:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ellipse

[Ugifer]

An excellent technique, and very useful - if you ever need to cut a hole to pass a vertical pipe (chimney, flue, drain etc) through a sloping roof then the shape you need is an ellipse.

[ecogzie]

excellent been racking my brains and this oh so simple solution ,does the business

[Don Quioxte]

A common sense solution. (because an ellipse is defined as a set of points in which the sum of the distances between two foci is constant) I like it. In a similar vein, using only one focus, the result is a circle. Using three or more (noncollinear) foci could yield interesting shapes, which could be useful for making signs or templates.

[megziewoodles]

Awesome. Isn't this closely related to Kepler's three laws?

[xenobiologista]

I once tried pulling out one of my hairs to use as the string to do this in an exercise book. School was really boring.

[TheCheese9921]

what is an Ellipse

[xenobiologista]

It's the maths way of saying "oval".

[aragao]

Distance between pins:
2 x Sq root of {(1/2L)squared minus(1/2H)squared}, where L=lenght and H=height of final ellipse.

[mikesty]

Clever you. Can you now tell me how to find the largest circle I can inscribe in a given ellipse ? I can't :)

[Einarjon]

Simple. The center is midway between the two points (push pins). The radius equals the height of the ellipse (distance to nearest edge).

[aragao]

If it is to be inscribed, diameter should be equal to the ellipse´s height (y axis).

[mikesty]

That's quite clever. Now I'll need to think of a good reason to draw an ellipse :)

[mikesty]

*nods* Good point.

How about a custommini CD in the shape of an ellipse? That would be cool.

[radiorental]

ellipseseses can be handy when you need to cut an arc out of something, as opposed to a simple quadrant from a circle. Like a fancy schmanky coffee table corner or sumfink.

[aragao]

What´s a schmanky coffee table like ?

[radiorental]

I kindly direct your attention to the attached object of fancy schmankyness (including ovalesque corner cuttouts)

[aragao]

Woooshh !!

[TheCheese9921]

what is an Ellipse