YOUR TURN PPRREE--CCAALLCCUULLUUSS Solving Problems involving

of Conic Sections

Neil Jhon D. Hubilla

STEM 11 - Curiosity

Circle. A waterway in a theme park has a

semicircular cross section with diameter
11 ft. The boats that are going to be used
in this waterway have rectangular cross
sections and are found to submerge 1 ft
into the water. If the waterway is to be
filled with water 4.5 ft deep, what is the
maximum possible width of the boats?
Given:
Radius(r) = 11/2 = 5.5
y = -2

Formula:
x2 + y2 = r2

Solution:
x2 + y2 = r2
11 2
x2 + (-2)2 = ( )
2
121
x2 + 4 =
4
121
x2 = -4
4 Therefore, the maximum
2 121 16 possible width of the boats is
x = -
4 4 10.25 ft.
105
x2 =
4
x2 = 26.25
x = √ 26.25
Maximum width = 2x = 2(√ 26.25) ≈ 10.25 ft

Parabola. If the reflector in the searchlight from the previous example (in
parabola, example 2) has the light source located 6 inches from the
base along the axis of symmetry and the opening is 4 feet, find the
depth.
Given:
p = 0.5
x=2
Therefore, the depth of the
Formula: reflector in the searchlight is 2
x2 = 4py feet.

Solution:
x2 = 4py
(2)2 = 4(0.5)y
4 = 2y
y=2

Ellipse. Suppose a whispering chamber is 480 feet long and 320 feet wide.
1. Whatisthestandardformoftheequationoftheellipserepresentingtheroom?
Hint: assume a horizontal ellipse and let the center of the room be the
point (0,0). 2. If two people are standing at the foci of this room and can
hear each other whisper, how far apart are the people? Round to the
nearest foot.
Given:
Length of minor axis (2b) = 320; b = 160
Length of major axis (2a) = 480; a = 240
C(h,k) = C(0,0)

Formula:
( x−h )2 ( y−k )2
+ =1
a2 b2

Solution:
( x−0 )2 ( y−0 )2
+ =1
2402 1602
x2 y2
+ =1
2402 1602
x2 y2
+ =1 » (1)Standard Equation
57600 25600

c 2=a2−b 2
c 2=240 2−1602 Therefore, the two people
c 2=57600−25600 are 358 ft apart.
c 2=32000
c 2=178.8854
≈ 179
2c = 358 ft » (2)

Hyperbola. A design for a cooling tower

project is shown in the figure.
Find the equation of the hyperbola
that models the sides of the
cooling tower. Assume that
the center of the hyperbola
indicated by the intersection of
dashed perpendicular lines in
the figure—is the origin of the
coordinate plane. Round final
values to four decimal places.

Given:
Length of transverse axis (2a) = 40 m; a = 20
C(h,k) = C(0,0)
P(30,67.082)
x = 30
y = 67.082
Formula:
( x−h )2 ( y−k )2
− =1
a2 b2

Solution:
( x−h )2 ( y−k )2
− =1
a2 b2

( 30−0 )2 ( 67.082−0 )2
− =1
20 2 b2
(30)2(b)2 – (67.082)2(20)2 = (20)2(b)2

900b2 – 1799997.8896 = 400b2

900b2 – 400b2 = 1799997.8896 Therefore, the equation of the
500 b2 1799997.8896 hyperbola that models the sides of
=¿ the cooling tower is
500 500
b2 = 3599.9957792 x2 y2
− =1
≈ 3599.9958 400 3599.9958