Condition for a Line to Intersect the Ellipse

Condition for a Line to Intersect the Ellipse

For the line:

$$y=mx+c$$

and ellipse:

$$\frac{x^2}{a^2}+\frac{y^2}{b^2}=1$$

the line intersects the ellipse when the resulting quadratic in $$x$$ has real roots.

Usage

- Used to distinguish between a secant, tangent and non-intersecting line.