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Math Puzzle for March 15, 2024

by Jeff Smith On In Puzzles | Comments Disabled

To you it’s gravity’s rainbow, but to us it’s a conic section

 

Alameda Post - a parabola drawn over an X Y graph. A line crosses the parabola and the intersection in the bottom left quadrant is labeled A. The intersection of the line and parabola in the upper right quadrant is labeled B [1]

A parabola is drawn symmetric about the y-axis.
A straight line intersects the parabola at points A and B.
Point A has the coordinates ( − 8, − 15 ).
Point B has the coordinates ( 4, 3 ).
Find the length L of the parabola between points A and B.

L = ______ units

The first correct answer sent to [email protected] [2] wins a gift card worth much ice cream at Tucker’s Ice Cream in Alameda.

Last week’s [3] winner was Charles Twitchell with A = 8171.28 square units.

Jeff Smith is a former Math teacher and a retired US Navy Lieutenant Commander. Reach him at [email protected] [2].