A lithotripter is used to disintegrate kidney stones. The patient is placed within an elliptical device the kidney centered at one focus, while ultrasound waves from the other focus hit the walls and are reflected to the kidney stone, shattering the stone. Suppose that the length of the major axis of the ellipse is 40 cm and the length of the minor axis is 20 cm. How far from the kidney stone should the electrode that sends the ultrasound waves be placed in order to shatter the stone?

College Algebra (MindTap Course List)
12th Edition
ISBN:9781305652231
Author:R. David Gustafson, Jeff Hughes
Publisher:R. David Gustafson, Jeff Hughes
Chapter7: Conic Sections And Quadratic Systems
Section7.2: The Ellipse
Problem 70E
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A lithotripter is used to disintegrate kidney stones. The patient is placed
within an elliptical device the kidney centered at one focus, while
ultrasound waves from the other focus hit the walls and are reflected to the
kidney stone, shattering the stone. Suppose that the length of the major
axis of the ellipse is 40 cm and the length of the minor axis is 20 cm. How
far from the kidney stone should the electrode that sends the ultrasound
waves be placed in order to shatter the stone?
Transcribed Image Text:A lithotripter is used to disintegrate kidney stones. The patient is placed within an elliptical device the kidney centered at one focus, while ultrasound waves from the other focus hit the walls and are reflected to the kidney stone, shattering the stone. Suppose that the length of the major axis of the ellipse is 40 cm and the length of the minor axis is 20 cm. How far from the kidney stone should the electrode that sends the ultrasound waves be placed in order to shatter the stone?
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