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 vertex.
Using the completed square form, or , the vertex of the graph is at the point . The graph appears vertically if the term is squared, and horizontal if the term is squared. The graph will be oriented (opens up) upwards/right if is positive, and will be downwards/left if is negative. Here are the graphs of a few parabolas:
- A parabola with equation passes through the points (2,3) and (4,3). What is ?
Suppose that a parabola has vertex and equation , where and is an integer. The minimum possible value of can be written in the form where and are relatively prime positive integers. Find .
Find the area of the largest triangle [and prove this is the maximum] whose interior is entirely within the region bounded by and .