I'm not sure why it says "at at least 4 points". I wrote the equation of an ellipse in parametric form:
F(t) = (X(t), Y(t))
where
X(t) = a cos t
Y(t) = b sin t
Then I computed the first, second and third derivatives of each one:
You can do this yourself, but it's easy to verify by inspection that
X'''(t) = -X'(t)
Y'''(t) = -Y'(t)
Thus,
F'''(t) = -F'(t)
Hence the second derivative of the tangent vector should be parallel to the tangent vector at all points.
It's early in the morning though, and I can't guarantee that I didn't do something retarded.
Edit: Apparently ellipse != oval. And looking into a little more, there are many different kinds of ovals and there is not a clear mathematical definition of the broad term "oval".
I guess I would ask the OP what definition of "oval" he was given.
She said, "An oval has four vertices". That is the definition she gave us.
