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Skip designs tracks for amusement park rides. For a new design, the track will be elliptical. If the ellipse is placed on a large coordinate grid with its center at (0, 0), the equation 9 x 2 + 25 y 2 =225 models the path of the track. The units are given in yards. How long is the major axis of the track? Explain how you found the distance.

 Dec 5, 2016
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9 x^ 2 + 25 y^ 2 =225    divide both sides by 225  to put the equation of the ellipse in standard form

 

x^2/ a^2  + y^2/ b^2  = 1   

 

x^2 / 25  + y^2 / 9    =   1

 

The major axis lies along the x axis  and is 2a units in length   and "a" can be found as follows......√a^2  = √25  →   a  = 5

 

So....2a  = 2 (5)   = 10  units  = 10 yards  = 30 feet =  the length of the major axis

 

 

 

cool cool cool

 Dec 5, 2016

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