You can call this the “semi-major axis” instead. [3] X Research source

This is at a 90º right angle to the major radius, but you don’t need to measure any angles to solve this problem. You can call this the “semi-minor axis. "

For example, if an ellipse has a major radius of 5 units and a minor radius of 3 units, the area of the ellipse is 3 x 5 x π, or about 47 square units. If you don’t have a calculator, or if your calculator doesn’t have a π symbol, use “3. 14” instead.