At the beginning of this section, it was noted that an ellipse can be drawn using two

Chapter 10, Problem 69

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Think About It   At the beginning of this section, it was noted that an ellipse can be drawn using two thumbtacks, a string of fixed length (greater than the distance between the two tacks), and a pencil (see Figure 9.16). When the ends of the string are fastened at the tacks and the string is drawn taut with a pencil, the path traced by the pencil is an ellipse.

(a) What is the length of the string in terms of a?

(b) Explain why the path is an ellipse.

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