Pretest #12
Based on the picture i said that the focus was (0,p) and the latus rectum intersected the parabola at (x,p) and (-x,p). I then said the length was 2x and solved x^2=4py for 2x in terms of p. Is that what is supposed to be done? It seems like it should be more complicated.
posted by Carrie Desmond at 2:08 PM
3 Comments:
What i did was that i said the equation for the latus rectum was y=p, and i set a system, (y=p) and (x^2=4py) and solve for x. Since x=+/-2p, the length of the latus rectum = 2*abs(x)=4p.
i'm not sure if this is the right way to do this problem.
I agree.
why is the equation for the rectum y=p?
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