Kaleigh's question at Yahoo! Answers involving eliminating a parameter

[MarkFL]

Here is the question:

Find the equation in the xy-plane whose graph includes x = cos t and y = sec t.?

Here is a link to the question:

Find the equation in the xy-plane whose graph includes x = cos t and y = sec t.? - Yahoo! Answers

I have posted a link there to this topic so the OP can find my response.

 

[MarkFL]

Hello Kaleigh,

We are given the parametric equations:

\(\displaystyle x=\cos(t)\)

\(\displaystyle y=\sec(t)\)

One way we may eliminate the parameter $t$ is to multiply the two equations together, giving:

\(\displaystyle xy=1\)

We may choose to write this as:

\(\displaystyle y=\frac{1}{x}\)

To Kaleigh and any other guests viewing this topic, I invite and encourage you to post other parametric equations questions in our Pre-Calculus forum.

Best Regards,

Mark.