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Suppose a whispering chamber is 480 feet long and 320 feet wide.

  1. What is the standard form of the equation of the ellipse representing the room? Hint: assume a horizontal ellipse, and let the center of the room be the point ( 0 , 0 ) .
  2. If two people are standing at the foci of this room and can hear each other whisper, how far apart are the people? Round to the nearest foot.
  1. x 2 57 , 600 + y 2 25 , 600 = 1
  2. The people are standing 358 feet apart.
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Access these online resources for additional instruction and practice with ellipses.

Key equations

Horizontal ellipse, center at origin x 2 a 2 + y 2 b 2 = 1 ,   a > b
Vertical ellipse, center at origin x 2 b 2 + y 2 a 2 = 1 ,   a > b
Horizontal ellipse, center ( h , k ) ( x h ) 2 a 2 + ( y k ) 2 b 2 = 1 ,   a > b
Vertical ellipse, center ( h , k ) ( x h ) 2 b 2 + ( y k ) 2 a 2 = 1 ,   a > b

Key concepts

  • An ellipse is the set of all points ( x , y ) in a plane such that the sum of their distances from two fixed points is a constant. Each fixed point is called a focus (plural: foci).
  • When given the coordinates of the foci and vertices of an ellipse, we can write the equation of the ellipse in standard form. See [link] and [link] .
  • When given an equation for an ellipse centered at the origin in standard form, we can identify its vertices, co-vertices, foci, and the lengths and positions of the major and minor axes in order to graph the ellipse. See [link] and [link] .
  • When given the equation for an ellipse centered at some point other than the origin, we can identify its key features and graph the ellipse. See [link] and [link] .
  • Real-world situations can be modeled using the standard equations of ellipses and then evaluated to find key features, such as lengths of axes and distance between foci. See [link] .

Section exercises

Verbal

Define an ellipse in terms of its foci.

An ellipse is the set of all points in the plane the sum of whose distances from two fixed points, called the foci, is a constant.

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Where must the foci of an ellipse lie?

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What special case of the ellipse do we have when the major and minor axis are of the same length?

This special case would be a circle.

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For the special case mentioned above, what would be true about the foci of that ellipse?

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What can be said about the symmetry of the graph of an ellipse with center at the origin and foci along the y -axis?

It is symmetric about the x -axis, y -axis, and the origin.

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Algebraic

For the following exercises, determine whether the given equations represent ellipses. If yes, write in standard form.

4 x 2 + 9 y 2 = 36

yes; x 2 3 2 + y 2 2 2 = 1

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4 x 2 + 9 y 2 = 1

yes; x 2 ( 1 2 ) 2 + y 2 ( 1 3 ) 2 = 1

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4 x 2 8 x + 9 y 2 72 y + 112 = 0

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For the following exercises, write the equation of an ellipse in standard form, and identify the end points of the major and minor axes as well as the foci.

x 2 4 + y 2 49 = 1

x 2 2 2 + y 2 7 2 = 1 ; Endpoints of major axis ( 0 , 7 ) and ( 0 , 7 ) . Endpoints of minor axis ( 2 , 0 ) and ( 2 , 0 ) . Foci at ( 0 , 3 5 ) , ( 0 , 3 5 ) .

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x 2 + 9 y 2 = 1

x 2 ( 1 ) 2 + y 2 ( 1 3 ) 2 = 1 ; Endpoints of major axis ( 1 , 0 ) and ( 1 , 0 ) . Endpoints of minor axis ( 0 , 1 3 ) , ( 0 , 1 3 ) . Foci at ( 2 2 3 , 0 ) , ( 2 2 3 , 0 ) .

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Questions & Answers

Ayele, K., 2003. Introductory Economics, 3rd ed., Addis Ababa.
Widad Reply
can you send the book attached ?
Ariel
?
Ariel
What is economics
Widad Reply
the study of how humans make choices under conditions of scarcity
AI-Robot
U(x,y) = (x×y)1/2 find mu of x for y
Desalegn Reply
U(x,y) = (x×y)1/2 find mu of x for y
Desalegn
what is ecnomics
Jan Reply
this is the study of how the society manages it's scarce resources
Belonwu
what is macroeconomic
John Reply
macroeconomic is the branch of economics which studies actions, scale, activities and behaviour of the aggregate economy as a whole.
husaini
etc
husaini
difference between firm and industry
husaini Reply
what's the difference between a firm and an industry
Abdul
firm is the unit which transform inputs to output where as industry contain combination of firms with similar production 😅😅
Abdulraufu
Suppose the demand function that a firm faces shifted from Qd  120 3P to Qd  90  3P and the supply function has shifted from QS  20  2P to QS 10  2P . a) Find the effect of this change on price and quantity. b) Which of the changes in demand and supply is higher?
Toofiq Reply
explain standard reason why economic is a science
innocent Reply
factors influencing supply
Petrus Reply
what is economic.
Milan Reply
scares means__________________ends resources. unlimited
Jan
economics is a science that studies human behaviour as a relationship b/w ends and scares means which have alternative uses
Jan
calculate the profit maximizing for demand and supply
Zarshad Reply
Why qualify 28 supplies
Milan
what are explicit costs
Nomsa Reply
out-of-pocket costs for a firm, for example, payments for wages and salaries, rent, or materials
AI-Robot
concepts of supply in microeconomics
David Reply
economic overview notes
Amahle Reply
identify a demand and a supply curve
Salome Reply
i don't know
Parul
there's a difference
Aryan
Demand curve shows that how supply and others conditions affect on demand of a particular thing and what percent demand increase whith increase of supply of goods
Israr
Hi Sir please how do u calculate Cross elastic demand and income elastic demand?
Abari
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Practice Key Terms 7

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Source:  OpenStax, Precalculus. OpenStax CNX. Jan 19, 2016 Download for free at https://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11667/1.6
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