Elaine visits the Statuary Hall and stands at one focus of the room whispering quietly. Manuel moves around the room until he can hear Elaine whispering. At this point, the two are about 84 feet apart. If the minor axis of Statuary Hall is 46 feet long, what is the sum of distances from Elaine and Manuel to one of the paintings on the wall? (Hint: the sum of the distances from the foci to any point on the ellipse is equal to the length of the major axis.)

Question

Elaine visits the Statuary Hall and stands at one focus of the room whispering quietly.  Manuel moves around the room until he can hear Elaine whispering.  At this point, the two are about 84 feet apart.  If the minor axis of Statuary Hall is 46 feet long, what is the sum of distances from Elaine and Manuel to one of the paintings on the wall? (Hint: the sum of the distances from the foci to any point on the ellipse is equal to the length of the major axis.)

shadowfiend · Answer

Hm. Do you have anything that tells you the length of the major axis?