Question

Designer wants to create a whisper chamber in the shape of an ellipse. He has a warehouse space with a longest length of 30 feet which he decides will be the major axis of his elliptical chamber. He determines the best spots for his guest to stand to experience his whisper chamber will be 4 feet 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 built his whisper chamber.

Answer 1

Answer: The answer to this questiojn is 14.48 feet, but if rounded to the nearest tenth, then it should be 14.5 (As it was on my question)

Answer 2

14.48 ft

Explanation:

The relation between the location of the focus (c), the vertex on the major axis (a) and the vertex on the minor axis (b) with respect the center is:

b² = a² - c²

From the question:

c = 4 ft

a= 30/2 = 15 ft

Replacing into the equation:

b² = 15² - 4²

b = √209

b = 14.48 ft

So, he should build the whisper chamber at 14.48 ft out from the center along the minor axis