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At this exhibit,
a beam of laser light traces out two cones of light. Visitors can
see "slices" of these cones by putting a board into the
light. Centuries ago, Greek mathematicians discovered that the slicing
of cones at various angles make four different shapes: hyperbolas,
parabolas, ellipses, and circles. Called
conic sections
,
these shapes appear in many natural phenomena.
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