An architect for a golf course wants to plan a sand trap that passes between a tree and a cart path?Using these as the focus and directrix, how can the architect plan a parabolic sand trap that will be equidistant from the tree and the cart path. Describe your method in full sentences.

I know the tree is the focus and the path is the directrix, but how to I plan a path equidistant between the two?

Question

An architect for a golf course wants to plan a sand trap that passes between a tree and a cart path?Using these as the focus and directrix, how can the architect plan a parabolic sand trap that will be equidistant from the tree and the cart path. Describe your method in full sentences. 

I know the tree is the focus and the path is the directrix, but how to I plan a path equidistant between the two?

whpalmer4 · Answer

well, isn't a parabola the set of points equidistant from the focus and the directrix?

anonymous · Answer

Yes, but what would an equation or that situation look like?

whpalmer4 · Answer

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whpalmer4 · Answer

now the first point is the one on the perpendicular line between directrix and focus, exactly halfway between them (equidistant)

whpalmer4 · Answer

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agreed?

whpalmer4 · Answer

have to admit I'm a bit fuzzy on what this sand trap is supposed to look like!

whpalmer4 · Answer

are you sure you copied the problem correctly?  if the edge of the sand trap was the directrix, and the tree was the focus, we could snake a parabolic path equidistant from both...

anonymous · Answer

Im pretty sure I did

whpalmer4 · Answer

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whpalmer4 · Answer

I suppose that could be the centerline of the sand trap, and it extends a fixed distance in either direction from the centerline:

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