RNSHS Senior High School Precalculus Example 2.

The cable of a suspension bridge hangs in the shape of

S.Y. 2016-2017 First Semester parabola. The towers supporting the cable are 400 ft apart and 150 ft
high. If the cable, at its lowest, is 30 ft above the bridge at its midpoint,
Conic Sections: Parabolas how high is the cable 50 ft away (horizontally) from either tower?
Situational Problems Involving Parabolas

Example 1. A satellite dish has a shape called a paraboloid, where

each cross-section is a parabola. Since radio signals (parallel to the
axis) will bounce off the surface of the dish to the focus, the receiver 150 ft
should be placed at the focus. How far should the receiver be from the
vertex, if the dish is 10 ft across, and 4 ft deep at the vertex?

10 ft
(5,4)
Solution. Refer to the figure above, where the parabolic cable is drawn
with its vertex on the y-axis 30 ft above the origin. We may write its
4 ft equation as (𝑥 − 0)2 = 4𝑐(𝑦 − 30). Since the towers are 150 ft high
and 400 ft apart, we deduce from the figure that (200, 150) is a point on
the parabola.

Substitute the point to the standard form to get the value of 4c

Solution. The second figure above shows a cross-section of the satellite
dish drawn on a rectangular coordinate system, with the vertex at the
𝑥 2 = 4𝑐(𝑦 − 30)
origin. From the problem, we deduce that (5,4) is a point on the
parabola. We need the distance of the focus from the vertex (focal 2002 = 4𝑐(150 − 30)
distance), i.e., the value of c in 𝑥 2 = 4𝑐𝑦.
40000 = 4𝑐(120)
Substitute the given point to the standard equation 40000 1000
4𝑐 = =
120 3
𝑥 2 = 4𝑐𝑦
The required equation of the parabola is
25 = 4𝑐(4)
1000
25 = 16𝑐 𝑥2 = (𝑦 − 30)
3
25 Substituting the point (150, 𝑦) to the last equation and solving for 𝑦,
𝑐= ≈ 1.56
16 we get 𝑦 = 97.5.

Thus, the receiver should be placed approximately 1.56 ft away Therefore, the cable is 97.5 ft. high away from either tower.
from the vertex.