document.write( "Question 170009: Find the length of the major axis for the graph of 49x^2 + 16y^2 = 784\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Michele\r
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Algebra.Com's Answer #125472 by jim_thompson5910(35256)\"\" \"About 
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\"49x%5E2+%2B+16y%5E2+=+784\" Start with the given equation\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"%2849x%5E2+%2B+16y%5E2%29%2F784+=+cross%28784%2F784%29\" Divide both sides by 784. The goal here is to make the right side equal to 1\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"%2849x%5E2+%2B+16y%5E2%29%2F784+=+1\" Simplify\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"%2849x%5E2%29%2F784+%2B+%2816y%5E2%29%2F784+=+1\" Break up the fraction\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"%28x%5E2%29%2F16+%2B+%28y%5E2%29%2F49+=+1\" Reduce\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"%28x%5E2%29%2F%284%5E2%29+%2B+%28y%5E2%29%2F%287%5E2%29+=+1\" Rewrite 16 as \"4%5E2\". Rewrite 49 as \"7%5E2\"\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Now the equation is in the form \"%28%28x-h%29%5E2%29%2F%28a%5E2%29+%2B+%28%28y-k%29%5E2%29%2F%28b%5E2%29+=+1\" where \"h=0\", \"k=0\", \"a=4\", and \"b=7\".\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "The values of \"a\" and \"b\" are the lengths of the major and minor axis. If \"a\" is larger than \"b\", then \"2a\" is the length of the major axis. On the other hand, if \"b\" is larger than \"a\", then \"2b\" is the length of the major axis.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Since \"b%3Ea\", this means that the length of the major axis is \"2b\".\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "So multiply the value of \"b\" by 2 to get \"2%2A7=14\"\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "So the length of the major axis is 14 units
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