In a Whispering Gallery, Any Sound at One Focus of an Ellipse

question 33

Short Answer

In a whispering gallery, any sound at one focus of an ellipse reflects off the ellipse directly to the other focus. The figure shows an elliptical whispering gallery, where x is the center of the ellipse. What is the distance that sound travels from focus $F_{1}$ to focus $F_{2} ?$

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Definitions:

Ebbinghaus

A psychologist known for his work on memory, specifically the discovery of the forgetting curve and the spacing effect.

Shereshevsky

Referring to Solomon Shereshevsky, a Russian journalist with a phenomenal memory, often studied in psychology for his extraordinary mnemonical capacities.

Ebbinghaus

Herman Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist known for his pioneering work on memory, especially the forgetting curve and the spacing effect.

Newly Learned Information

Data or knowledge that has been recently acquired or understood by an individual.