Definition of "hyperbola" []

• A plane curve having two branches, formed by the intersection of a plane with both halves of a right circular cone at an angle parallel to the axis of the cone. It is the locus of points for which the difference of the distances from two given points is a constant. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It gives the best fit to the observed data for this particular kind of curve, which is called a hyperbola."
• "Just change the name hyperbola and that fits in this case."
• "Lenski did a sort of short-cut equivalent to that exhaustive operation to arrive at the best-fit hyperbola, which is the one you see drawn in."