Parabola

A parabola is a type of conic section. A parabola is a locus of points that are equidistant from a point (the focus) and a line (the directrix).

Parabola Equations

There are several "standard" ways to write the equation of a parabola. The first is polynomial form: where a, b, and c are constants. This is useful for manipulating the polynomial.

The second is completed square form, or where a, h, and k are constants and the vertex is (h,k). This is very useful for graphing the quadratic because the vertex and stretching factor are immediately before you.

The third way is the conic section form, or or where the p is a constant, and is the distance from the focus to the directrix.

Graphing Parabolas

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