A carpenter wants to construct an elliptical table top from a 4 ft by 8 ft sheet of plywood. She will trace out the ellipse by using the “Thumbtack and string” method. How far apart should the thumbtacks be from each other to make the largest possible ellipse on the plywood?

College Algebra
7th Edition
ISBN:9781305115545
Author:James Stewart, Lothar Redlin, Saleem Watson
Publisher:James Stewart, Lothar Redlin, Saleem Watson
Chapter7: Conic Sections
Section7.2: Ellipses
Problem 68E: Plywood Ellipse A carpenter wishes to construct an elliptical table top from a 4 ft by 8 ft sheet of...
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A carpenter wants to construct an elliptical table top from a 4 ft by 8 ft sheet of plywood. She will trace out the ellipse by
using the “Thumbtack and string” method. How far apart should the thumbtacks be from each other to make the largest
possible ellipse on the plywood?

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