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Parabola

Revision as of 13:00, 18 June 2006 by Mysmartmouth (talk | contribs) (Added image)

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

File:Parabola.jpg
Parabolic Curve Showing Directrix. Its Equation: $x^2 = 8y$


Parabola Equations

There are several "standard" ways to write the equation of a parabola. The first is polynomial form: y = ax^2+bx+c where a, b, and c are constants. The second is completed square form, or $y=a(x-k)^2+c$ where a, k, and c are constants. The third way is the conic section form, or y^2=4px or $x^2=4py$ where the p is a constant, and is the distance from the focus to the directrix.

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