Question

4. A horizontal ellipse, centered at the origin has a major axis of 10 units and minor axis of 8 units. Write the

Answer 1

Answer:

$\frac{x^2}{25} +\frac{y^2}{16} =1$

Step-by-step explanation:

For ellipses, the length of the major axis is represents as:

Major axis = $2a$

where $a$ is called the semi-major axis.

In this case since the major axis is equal to 10 units:

$10=2a$

solving for the semi-major axis $a$ :

$a=10/2\\a=5$

and also the minor axis of an ellipse is represented as:

Minor axis = $2b$

where $b$  is called the semi-minor axis.

Since the minor axis has a length of 8 units:

$8=2b$

solving for b:

$b=8/2\\b=4$

Now we can use the equation for an ellipse centered at the origin (0,0):

$\frac{x^2}{a^2} +\frac{y^2}{b^2} =1$

and substituting the values for $a$ and $b$:

$\frac{x^2}{5^2} +\frac{y^2}{4^2} =1$

and finall we simplify the expression to get the equation of the ellipse:

$\frac{x^2}{25} +\frac{y^2}{16} =1$