How Do You Calculate the Eccentricity of an Ellipse Given x^2/49 + y^2/64 = 1?

[TonyC]

How would I find the eccentricity of the ellipse:
x^2/49 + y^2/64 = 1

 

[TD]

The standard form of an ellipse is \frac{{x^2 }}{{a^2 }} + \frac{{y^2 }}{{b^2 }} = 1.

Another constant c is defined as: c^2 \equiv a^2 - b^2

Finally, we define the eccentricity as: e = \frac{c}{a}

 

[HallsofIvy]

Do you know a formula for eccentricity? I would be very surprized if your textbook asks a question like this and does not include a formula!

If your textbook does not have such a formula or you do not have a textbook (not a good idea!) you could go to "google.com" and enter "ellipse eccentricity". I just did that and found a very simple formula at the first hit.

 

[TonyC]

Thank you very much