If a pebble is dropped into a pond in the shape of an ellipse at the location of one focus, the waves will converge at the location of the other focus. If the pond has a major axis of 34 feet and a minor

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asked Jun 8, 2019 195k views

4 votes

If a pebble is dropped into a pond in the shape of an ellipse at the location of one focus, the waves will converge at the location of the other focus. If the pond has a major axis of 34 feet and a minor axis of 16 feet, how far apart are the foci?

A. 15 feet
B. 18 feet
C. 30 feet
D. 60 feet

Mathematics
high-school

Nino Amisulashvili asked

by Nino Amisulashvili

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2 Answers

6 votes

the answer is 60 feet

Bsegraves answered Jun 11, 2019

by Bsegraves

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where: a is the length of the major axis and b is the length of the minor axis.

Thus,

c= √(34^2-16^2) = √(1156-256) = √(900) c=30 Therefore, the distance apart of the two foci is given by 2c=2(30)=60 feet