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    spacefire5458's Avatar
    spacefire5458 Posts: 84, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Sep 10, 2007, 03:42 PM
    geometry-parabola
    I don't understand the parabola definition and what is the algebraic equation?
    thank you:)
    tickle's Avatar
    tickle Posts: 23,796, Reputation: 2674
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    #2

    Sep 10, 2007, 04:11 PM
    I can give you the parabola but you will have to fill out the algebraic equation yourself, which isn't all that difficult

    a parabola is a curve in the Cartesian plane defined by an irreducible equation of the form

    A x^2 + B xy + C y^2 + D x + E y + F = 0 \,

    such that B^2 = 4 AC \, where all of the coefficients are real, where A \not= 0 \, or C \not= 0 \, and where more than one solution, defining a pair of points (x, y) on the parabola, exists. That the equation is irreducible means it does not factor as a product of two not necessarily distinct linear equations.
    spacefire5458's Avatar
    spacefire5458 Posts: 84, Reputation: 1
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    #3

    Sep 10, 2007, 05:12 PM
    Is it y=4x^2?
    ebaines's Avatar
    ebaines Posts: 12,131, Reputation: 1307
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    #4

    Sep 11, 2007, 11:11 AM
    Quote Originally Posted by spacefire5458
    Is it y=4x^2?
    y = 4x^2 is certainly a parabola.

    The general form for a parabola is:

    y = Ax^2 + Bx + C.

    Here if A >0, the parabola opens upward, and if A is negative it opens downward. For the example you gave y = 4x^2, the value of A is 4, B is 0 and C is 0. So this parabola opens upward.

    If you can convert this to the form y-k =a(x-h)^2, then the vertex is at the point (h,k). For the example case of y = 4x^2, this can convert to:
    y-0 = 4(x-0)^2, so this tells you the vertex is at (0,0).

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