> The graph of this equation looks like a smooth, looping curve, which is where the name "elliptic" comes from. This is completely made up. The name comes from

> The graph of this equation looks like a smooth, looping curve, which is where the name "elliptic" comes from. This is completely made up. The name comes from "elliptic integral". From the Wikipedia page on Elliptic Curves: > An elliptic curve is not an ellipse in the sense of a projective conic, which has genus zero: see elliptic integral for the origin of the term. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptic_curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptic_curve