A parabolic reflector is used by a sports broadcast engineer to amplify the conversations between football players on the field. If the reflector has the shape x = 5y², where should the microphone be placed? A) units to the right of the focus of the reflector B) units to the right of the vertex of the reflector C) 20 units to the right of the focus of the reflector D) 10 units to the right of the vertex of the reflector

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A parabolic reflector has the equation x = 4fy, where f is the distance between the vertex and the focus of the reflector. Comparing this to the given equation x = 5y², we can see that the focus is at (5/4, 0) and the vertex is at (0, 0). Therefore, the microphone should be placed 11 units to the right of the vertex, which corresponds to (11, 0) in this case. So, the correct choice is B.

A Parabolic Reflector Is Used by a Sports Broadcast Engineer