A tunnel has a shape of a semi ellipse that is feet at the center and 36 feet wide across at the base. At most how high should a passing truck be, if it is 12 feet wide, for it to be able to fit through the tunnel? Round off your answer to two decimal places?

Answer 1

You neglected to provide the center height. But, just for the sake of the exercise, let's say it is 15 feet high. That means
a = 18
b = 15
and the equation of the ellipse is
x^2/324 + y^2/225 = 1
So now you want to find y when x = 6
y < 10√2 = 14.1 ft