A connection between mathematical and literary terms.

In old-fashioned high school math classes "back in the day", we learned about the conic sections, the ellipse, the parabola, and the hyperbola, in a very "classical" way. ( A circle is a special case of an ellipse.)

One way to distinguish among the three is a ratio called the eccentricity. Each of these three types of curves can be described as follows:

There is a fixed point F called the focus and a fixed line D called the directrix with the following property: if we take any point P on the curve, then the ratio

e = (distance from P to F) / (distance from P to D)

is a constant. It has the same value for every point P on the curve. This constant "e" is called the eccentricity of the curve.

If e > 1, the curve is a hyperbola.
If e = 1, the curve is a parabola
If e < 1, the curve is an ellipse.


On the other hand.....

Hyperbole refers to exaggeration, which in a sense is an "excess" ( e > 1)

A parable is a story in which one thing stands for another, just as the numerator and denominator are equal to each other when e = 1. (In fact, in the Latin Bible, the word that appears in the New Testament is "parabola!")

An elliptical sentence is one that is vague or ambiguous because it "lacks" something ( e < 1).

These Greek prefixes cut across different areas of learning!

I once was talking with a friend about exercise equipment. I knew very little about "elliptical machines", and I asked him what that term referred to. I assumed the machine had a belt in the shape of an ellipse, but he said that he was not aware of that being the case. So he joked, "Maybe it's a machine with parts missing!"

I responded, "In which case, all the advertising for them would be hyperbolic claims about elliptical machines!"

Yeah, he is a math nerd like me.

(Maybe I should have posted this under "Greek Language" rather than English! lol)