I'm trying to figure out the path of Jupiter around the sun.
It is an ellipse, so I'm trying to get it into the x^2/a^2+y^2/b^2=1 form.
I have the minimum (460,000,000 miles) and maximum(508,000,000 miles) distances.
My teacher has given me three equations to work with, to help me figure the problem out:
Max distance+Min distance=length of Major Axis
A=Length of major axis/2
Major axis-Minor axis/2=C
With these three equations, I have the following information:
Major Axis=968,000,000 miles
I was wondering if someone could explain how to figure out the minor axis?
Also, the sun is at a point of (C,0) ...so does that mean that my C value would be the C in that ordered pair?