Question

Find the standard form of the equation of the ellipse with the given characteristics.
vertices: (- 8, - 5), (- 8, 9)
minor axis of length: 4

Answer 1

what do you have so far?

Answer 2

there are 3 things you need:

center of ellipse
a^2
b^2

Answer 3

center is (-8, 2) is the center?

Answer 4

yep

Answer 5

\[\frac{(y-2)^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{(x+8)^{2}}{b^{2}}=1\]

Answer 6

"b" component is given pretty much
minor axis is 4, "b" is half that
b = 2

from (- 8, - 5) to (- 8, 9)
moving up/down, it goes from -5 up to 9, 14 units for the major axis, half of that is "a"
a = 7