Some time ago I wrote an R function to fit an ellipse to point data, using an algorithm developed by Radim Halíř and Jan Flusser 1 in Matlab, and posted it to the r-help list . The implementation was a bit hacky, returning odd results for some data. A couple of days ago, an email arrived from John Minter asking for a pointer to the original code. I replied with a link and mentioned that I'd be interested to know if John made any improvements to the code. About ten minutes later, John emailed again with a much improved version ! Not only is it more reliable, but also more efficient. So with many thanks to John, here is the improved code: fit.ellipse <- function (x, y = NULL) { # from: # http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/Fitting-a-half-ellipse-curve-tp2719037p2720560.html # # Least squares fitting of an ellipse to point data # using the algorithm described in: # Radim Halir & Jan Flusser. 1998. # Numerically stable direct least squares fitting of ellipses