What is the conic section produced when the plane intersects the cone at an angle less steep than the slope of the cone edge?

Answer 1

a circle or an ellipse

a flat horizontal intersection gives a circle

otherwise an ellipse

a circle is an ellipse, so just go with ellipse

a circle is a special type of ellipse, where the axes are equal, where the foci merge into the same point

steeper and you get a parabola or hyperbola. parabola when the slant is the same as the slant of the cone

steeper and you get a hyperbola

less steep an ellipse

same steepness parabola

steeper hyperbola