Question

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?
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

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