Ask Me Help Desk - Maths parabolas

Quote:

Originally Posted by miszak

Find the focus and directrix and then draw graph of
x^2=-7y

You need to rewrite the equation into the standard form, which is:

$<br /> y-y_0 = \pm \frac {1 }{4p} (x-x_0)^2<br />$

and then the point $(x_0, y_0)$ is the vertex of the paraola, the focus is distance $p$ from the vertex towards the inside of the parabola, and the directrix is a line located distance $p$ from the vertex towards the outside of the parabola.