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Parabolas: Definition of A Parabola

A parabola is defined as the set of all points equidistant from a fixed line called the directrix and a point called the focus. A parabola is a type of conic section formed by the intersection of a plane and a right circular cone. The three basic conic sections are parabolas, ellipses, and hyperbolas, which can be defined by quadratic equations. Parabolas can have either a vertical or horizontal axis of symmetry and their properties include a vertex, focus, directrix, and focal width.

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50 views

Parabolas: Definition of A Parabola

A parabola is defined as the set of all points equidistant from a fixed line called the directrix and a point called the focus. A parabola is a type of conic section formed by the intersection of a plane and a right circular cone. The three basic conic sections are parabolas, ellipses, and hyperbolas, which can be defined by quadratic equations. Parabolas can have either a vertical or horizontal axis of symmetry and their properties include a vertex, focus, directrix, and focal width.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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PARABOLAS

DEFINITIONOFAPARABOLA
Aparabolaisthesetofallpoints(x,y)inaplanethatare
equidistantfromthedirectrix(afixedline)
andthefocus(apointnotontheline).
Vocabulary
Conicsectiontheintersectionofaplaneandadouble
nappedcone.

Basicconicscircle,parabola,ellipse,hyperbola

Degenerateconicsresultswhentheplaneintersectswith
thevertex,examplespoint,singleline,intersectinglines.

Directrixafixedlinethatisunitsfromthevertex.

Focallengththevaluep,thedirecteddistancefromthe
vertextothefocusoftheparabola.

Focalwidth(chord)alinesegmentthatpassesthrough
thefocusandhasendpointsontheparabola.Thefocal
chordisparalleltothedirectrix.Thevalueisthelength
ofthechordthroughthefocusandperpendiculartothe
axis.

Conic Sections
Aconicsection(orconic)isacrosssectionofacone,inother
words,theintersectionofaplanewitharightcircularcone.
Thethreebasicconicsectionsaretheellipse,theparabola,
andthehyperbola.

Theconicsectionscanbedefinedalgebraicallyasthegraphs
ofseconddegree(quadratic)equationsintwo
variables,thatis,equationsoftheform

whereA,B,andCarenotallzero.

Parabolas With Vertical


Axis of Symmetry

Equation
Opens

Upwardordownward

Vertex
Focus
Directrix
Axis

yaxis

FocalLength
FocalWidth

Parabolas With Horizontal


Axis of Symmetry

Equation
Opens

Totherightortotheleft

Vertex
Focus
Directrix
Axis

xaxis

FocalLength
FocalWidth

Graphing Basic Parabolas

EX#1:
Vertex:____________________

h=

Focus:_____________________

k=

Directrix:___________________

p=

Focalwidth:_______________

Graphing Basic Parabolas

EX#2:
Vertex:____________________

h=

Focus:_____________________

k=

Directrix:___________________

p=

Focalwidth:_______________

Finding An Equation of a Parabola

EX#3:Usethegraphbelowtofindthestandardformof
theequationfortheparabola

h=

k=

p=

Vertex:________________
Focus:________________
Directrix:_______________
Focalwidth:___________

Equation:__________________________________________

Finding An Equation of a Parabola

EX#4:Findthestandardformoftheequationforthe
parabolawithfocusanddirectrix

EX#5:Showthatthegraphoftheequationisaparabola,
andfinditsvertex,focus,anddirectrix.

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