Thread: Equation of ellipse question Help!

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By definition, an ellipse is the set of points the sum of the distances to two fixed points, the foci, is a constant.
In the complex plane if u & v are points then the distance from u to v is |u-v|.
Because are the foci we have:
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Now you finish.

so if its the sum 2a=8
then a=4

so 2=a^2 - b^2

2-16=-b^2
14=b^2

so equation looks something like x^2/16 + y^2/14 =1 ??
could you start me off on part b thats if im even right on part a. cheers

You have a = 4. This gives vertices at 4i and -4i.
You should have c = 2. This gives b^2 = 12.

I cannot tell why you decided to use c rather than c^2 when calculating b.

my reasoning was that c^2=foci and because i already know foci is 2i but im a complete novice at this so i assume your right.