Question

A satellite dish is shaped like a paraboloid of revolution. The signals that emanate from a satellite strike the surface of the dish and are reflected a single point, where the receiver is located. If the dish is 16 feet across at its opening and 5 feet deep at its center, at what position should the receiver be placed?

Answer 1

18feet
We need to find the distance,c between the vertex and the focus.
For a vertical parabola:

#If we place our parabola at the center, the expression changes to:

The points of the parabola are given as (12,2), substitute in our equation to find c: