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Geometry Difficulty 3.3 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

The eccentricity of the hyperbola x24y22=1\frac{{x}^{2}}{4}-\frac{{y}^{2}}{2}=1 is ____.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

To find the eccentricity of the hyperbola given by the equation x24y22=1\frac{x^{2}}{4}-\frac{y^{2}}{2}=1, we break down the solution into detailed steps:

1. Identify the formula of the hyperbola: Given x24y22=1\frac{x^{2}}{4}-\frac{y^{2}}{2}=1, we can see that it is in the standard form of a hyperbola centered at the origin with the xx-axis as its transverse axis.

2. Determine the values of aa and bb: From the equation, we can extract that a2=4a^2=4 and b2=2b^2=2, which leads to a=2a=2 (since aa is the semi-major axis and is always positive) and b=2b=\sqrt{2}.

3. Calculate the focal length cc: For a hyperbola, the relationship between aa, bb, and cc (the distance from the center to a focus) is given by c2=a2+b2c^2=a^2+b^2. Substituting the values of aa and bb, we get:
c2=22+(2)2=4+2=6c^2 = 2^2 + (\sqrt{2})^2 = 4 + 2 = 6
Thus, c=6c = \sqrt{6}.

4. Find the eccentricity ee: The eccentricity of a hyperbola is given by the formula e=cae=\frac{c}{a}. Substituting the values of cc and aa, we get:
e=62e = \frac{\sqrt{6}}{2}

Therefore, the eccentricity of the given hyperbola is 62\boxed{\frac{\sqrt{6}}{2}}.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.