Hey all...

Got this math problem.

I've attached a the problem below and what I think the question looks like below.

 

Other than that, I'm lost.

First off, you drew the line horizontally rather than vertically.

 

To find the distance between two points use this formula:

[math]d = \sqrt{(x_0 - x_1)^2 + (y_0 - y_1)^2}[/math]

 

In your case:

[math]d_F = \sqrt{(x-1)^2 + y^2}[/math]

 

And use the absolute value to get the horizontal distane:

[math]d = | x_0 - x_1 |[/math]

 

And in your case:

[math]d_L = | x+1 |[/math]

 

Is this clear?

Yes it is. Thanks a lot. I was jsut utterly confused with the question.

And the graph thing..whoops..my bad.

Apparently the equation [math]d_L /d_F= e [/math] should be an eclipse.

I haven't quite got that. I get something nasty and gross looking like the equation below; which isn't quite an eclipse upon plotting.

 

Have I done somehting wrong here :S?

(plot is when e=1).

e=1 is a special case, if you plot some other values you will see other conic sections.

 

The form of the equation _is_ that of an ellipse, if you have to, you can rearrange it into the cannonical form. Do you remember the trick of completing the square?

Well I do, but I'm not sure how to apply it here.

 

I've attached what I've done. From then on, I'm clueless.

 

I'm trying to get it in the standard form of (x+c/a)^2+(y+d/b)^2=1.