Refer to the figure shown below.
Jeremiah is given the following information:
(i) A vertex along the major axis, located at (a, 0).
(ii) The location of the center which is assumed to be at (0, 0).
The equation for the ellipse is of the form
If the center of the ellipse is located at (h, k), then the equation is
We know (a), the major axis, but we do not know (b), the minor axis.
We can calculate value for b if we know one focus such as the right focus located at (c, 0), because
c² = a² - b².
Of the choices given, we can gain the required information as follows:
- the location of focus nearest the given vertex (YES)
- the location of the focus nearest the other vertex (YES)
- the location of the other vertex along the major axis (NO)
- the location of one covertex along the minor axis (YES)
- the location of the directrix nearest the given vertex (NO)
- the location of the directrix nearest the other vertex (NO)
- the length of the minor axis (YES)