An elliptical park is being built in your neighborhood. The park is 25 meters long and 40 meters across. If two swings are to be placed at the foci of the ellipse, how far from the center must the swings be located?

Question

Libby Schroeder

Mathematics

13 August, 01:59

An elliptical park is being built in your neighborhood. The park is 25 meters long and 40 meters across. If two swings are to be placed at the foci of the ellipse, how far from the center must the swings be located?

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Answers (1)

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Joslyn Sawyer · Answer 1

Lets say that the center is at (0,0)

The equation for an ellipse is

x^2/a^2 + y^2/b^2 = 1

The equation will be x^2/40 + y^2/25 = 1

a^2 - b^2 = c^2

40 - 25 = 15

The foci is (sqrt (15,0) and (-sqrt (15),0)