SOLUTION: A tunnel has the shape of a semi ellipse that is 15 ft high at the center, and 36 ft across at the base. At most how high should a passing truck be, if it is 12 ft wide, for it to

Question 1167018: A tunnel has the shape of a semi ellipse that is 15 ft high at the center, and 36 ft across at the base. At most how high should a passing truck be, if it is 12 ft wide, for it to be able to fit through the tunnel?
Answer by greenestamps(13200) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

The horizontal major axis is 36 feet, so the semi-major axis is 18.

The vertical semi-minor axis is 15 feet.

The equation of the ellipse is

The truck will just fit through the tunnel if its sides are 6 feet each side of the center. So the problem is asking for the height of the tunnel (y) when x=6.

You can do the arithmetic to find the answer....

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