From: Jerry 
To: ATM List 
Reply-To: Jerry 


  Bill T. wrote:

>
>>> miss-spellings
>>
>
> Yeah!  And fer cyrin' out loud, when are you guys gonna' figure out
> that the word is PARABOLOIDAL, not PARABOLIC!!!  "Parabolic" is
> so...common!
>
> Bill T.




   I've heard this one before but "parabolic" is correct. And so is
"paraboloid".

   The curve is parabolic and the surface is a paraboloid. Parabolic
(having the form of a parabola) could refer to either a  two or three
dimentional parabola.
Paraboloid refers to a three dimentional surface having the form of a
parabola.  To say your mirror is parabolic is to say it has the form of a
parabola. To say it is a paraboloid is to say that its surface has the form
of a parabola.

   Parabolic is easier to type.

Jerry

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