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Mathematics 16 Online
OpenStudy (anonymous):

Can someone please help me with this? A dirt bike racer wants to plan a path between a giant boulder and a fence that lines his property. Using these as the focus and directrix, how can the racer plan a parabolic path that will be equidistant from the boulder and the fence at all times? Describe your method in full sentences.

OpenStudy (misssunshinexxoxo):

By using distance formula

OpenStudy (anonymous):

wait, what did you just do?

OpenStudy (misssunshinexxoxo):

I plugged in distance formula

OpenStudy (misssunshinexxoxo):

the biker wants to go tthrough the same distance as the boulder & fence.

OpenStudy (anonymous):

I'm very confused

OpenStudy (misssunshinexxoxo):

Let's work it out; what do you think it is?

OpenStudy (anonymous):

If he knew the vertex, he can find the value of p (the distance from the vertex to the focus). that's all I know @misssunshinexxoxo

OpenStudy (anonymous):

x^2 = 4py, his equation

OpenStudy (true_alpha_wolf):

im bad at math

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