Question

A designer wants to create a whisper chamber in the shape of an ellipse. He has a warehouse space with a longest length of 50 yards, which he decides will be the major axis of his elliptical chamber. He determines the best spots for his guests to stand to experience his whisper chamber will be 10 yards from the center of the warehouse space, which will act as the foci. How far out from the center, along the minor axis should he build out his whisper chamber?

53.9 yd

45.8 yd

26.9 yd

22.9 yd

Answer 1

22.9 yards

Explanation:

Since b² = a² - c² where a = vertex of major axis, 2a = 50 yards the length of the major axis. So , a = 50/2 = 25 yards. c = focus of chamber = 10 yards from center and b = vertex of minor axis.

So, b = ±√(a² - c²)

= ±√(25² - 10²)

= ±√(625 - 100)

= ±√525

= ±22.91 yards

≅ ± 22.9 yards

Since b = length of minor axis from center of chamber = 22.91 yards. So, he should build the whisper chamber 22.9 yards out from the center of the chamber.