document.write( "Question 971199: The cross section of a 12 - foot -high cooling tower is in the form of a hyperbola. its top and bottom parts are 8 feet wide and the narrowest part is 4 feet. A man painting the tower must place a horizontal plank exactly spanning the upper 6 feet width of the cross section of the tower. At what point from the ground should the plank be placed?\r
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Algebra.Com's Answer #593756 by lwsshak3(11628)\"\" \"About 
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The cross section of a 12 - foot -high cooling tower is in the form of a hyperbola. its top and bottom parts are 8 feet wide and the narrowest part is 4 feet. A man painting the tower must place a horizontal plank exactly spanning the upper 6 feet width of the cross section of the tower. At what point from the ground should the plank be placed?
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\n" ); document.write( "The cooling tower can be represented by a hyperbola with horizontal transverse axis with center at the origin.
\n" ); document.write( "Its standard form of equation: \"x%5E2%2Fa%5E2-y%5E2%2Fb%5E2=1\"
\n" ); document.write( "For given problem:
\n" ); document.write( "a=2 (distance from center to vertices(the narrowest part)
\n" ); document.write( "a^2=4
\n" ); document.write( "solve for b^2 using coordinates (4, 6) of the point at the top right corner of the tower
\n" ); document.write( "\"x%5E2%2Fa%5E2-y%5E2%2Fb%5E2=1\"
\n" ); document.write( "\"4%5E2%2F4-6%5E2%2Fb%5E2=1\"
\n" ); document.write( "\"16%2F4-36%2Fb%5E2=1\"
\n" ); document.write( "36/b^2=4-1=3
\n" ); document.write( "b^2=12
\n" ); document.write( "equation: \"x%5E2%2F4-y%5E2%2F12=1\"
\n" ); document.write( "plug in coordinates(3, y) of the point at the top right corner of the horizontal plank and solve for y
\n" ); document.write( "\"x%5E2%2F4-y%5E2%2F12=1\"
\n" ); document.write( "\"3%5E2%2F4-y%5E2%2F12=1\"
\n" ); document.write( "9/4-1=y^2/12
\n" ); document.write( "5/4=y^2/12
\n" ); document.write( "y^2=15
\n" ); document.write( "y=√15=3.87
\n" ); document.write( "At what point from the ground should the plank be placed? 3.87 ft
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