Question

A radio telescope has a parabolic surface, as shown below. A parabola opening up with vertex at the origin is graphed on the coordinate plane. The height of the parabola from top to bottom is 1 meter and its width from left to right is 8 meters. If the telescope is 1 m deep and 8 m wide, how far is the focus from the vertex?

Answer 1

90m

Explanation:

Answer 2

The directrix or distance of the focus from the vertex 16.m

How to solve fpr the distance

Recall that the expression for determining the dimensions of a parabola is given to be :

x² =2py

Pont given are: (8,1) (-8, 1)

such that 64 = 2p

P = 32

We should know that that the equation of the directrix is

y = -(p/2)

-32 / 2

= -16

Therefore the directrix or distance of the focus from the vertex 16.m