Explanation
Correct answer: 6.
It's given that a line with equation intersects a parabola with equation , where is a positive constant, at exactly one point in the xy-plane. It follows that the system of equations consisting of and has exactly one solution. Dividing both sides of the equation of the line by yields . Substituting for in the equation of the parabola yields . Adding and subtracting from both sides of this equation yields . A quadratic equation in the form of , where , , and are constants, has exactly one solution when the discriminant, , is equal to zero. Substituting for and for in the expression and setting this expression equal to yields , or . Adding to each side of this equation yields . Taking the square root of each side of this equation yields . It's given that is positive, so the value of is .
Desmos solution:
Note: The regression finds b by setting the discriminant b^2-4(4)(2.25)=0, the condition for exactly one solution, with b>0.
Enter in Desmos:
Reviewed and rewritten by CookSAT