We're just learning about ellipses and conics, and I'm a bit confused with ellipses, parabolas, circles, and hyperbolas, so a little help with this sample problem would be great.
In which of the following equations would the ellipse have foci on the y-axis, the x-axis, or neither?
$1=\frac{x^2}{9}+\frac{y^2}{16}$
$1=\frac{x^2}{9}+\frac{y^2}{4}$
I tried graphing these already, but I'm still not exactly sure where the foci lies. In fact, what does each number in the equation of an ellipse represent? I apologize for the very ignorant questions, but we just started learning about conics. :)
You don't need to know the exact location of the foci in order to know what line they are on. They are always on the major axis.