Finding the equation of an ellipse

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To find the equation of an ellipse, both foci and additional parameters are required, such as the length of the major or minor axis, or the coordinates of the vertices. The discussion highlights that only one focus, (0, 4), was provided, making it impossible to determine a unique equation without more information. It is noted that an infinite number of ellipses can have a focus at this point. The original poster eventually resolved their confusion but did not specify how they did so. The conversation emphasizes the importance of having complete data to derive the ellipse's equation.
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find the equation of an ellipse whose foci is (0,4)?

Im not really sure of how to begin with this. Its actually a graph problem and it only gives the foci. can someone help me with this?
 
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js14 said:
find the equation of an ellipse whose foci is (0,4)?

Im not really sure of how to begin with this. Its actually a graph problem and it only gives the foci. can someone help me with this?

Foci are two points, and you only gave one. We also need one of the following to be able to find the equation:
- length of the major axis
- value of a
- coordinates of the vertices
- length of the minor axis
- value of b
- endpoints of the minor axis
- eccentricity of the ellipse
(I think that covers it)

Without any of the above, we can't find the equation. You mention that this is a graph problem, so if you have the graph with the coordinate axes labeled, you should be able to get the values of a and b. Can you upload the picture of the graph?
 
Its alright I figured it out. Thanks for replying though!
 
What, exactly, did you figure out? There exist an infinite number of ellipses having one focus at (0, 4).
 

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