Question

Ellipse Equation:
(x^2/9) + (y^2/1) = 1
How do you know which value is A and which is B when comparing it to the standard formula??? Is the value of a^2 always bigger than the value of b^2??

Answer 1

no, they're just letters that represent numbers. What you need to think of them as is what variable (x or y) they're under.

for example:
x^2/2^2 + y^2/3^2 = 1

then the number two under the x represents the horizontal axis, and the number under the y represents the vertical axis

Answer 2

if i let a = 2, and b = 3, then a < b
but if i let b = 2 and a = 3, then a > b.

Answer 3

if could have used different letters if i wanted to, say
x^2/r^2 + y^2/s^2 = 1

still doesn't change the fact that the number under x is 2^2 and the number under y is 3^2

Answer 4

in your case, 3 is the horizontal axis, and 1 is the vertical axis