Introduction to Parabolas

This lesson introduces parabolas and demonstrates how to graph them and how to write an equation given key information. For this lesson the vertex is at the origin.

[vineetdeepika]

Sir,
I found your tutorial very helpful and clear but if you would've explained the equation y = a(x-h)^2 + k then it would have been much better and clearer and also very helpful in quadratic equations!

[mricet]

The standard form is x^2 = 4py or y^2 = 4px. So the number in front of the linear variable = 4p. If you divide that number by 4 it gives you the value for p, which is important. It is the distance between the vertex and the focus and the distance between the vertex and the directrix.
So I am not arbitrarily factoring the number, I am trying to solve for p.

[mricet]

I cover that in my tutorial on "Exploring Quadratic Functions" on my YouTube channel. In our text book, parabolas are handled differently in the unit on Conics vs. Quadratics. This tutorial focused on the geometric / conic definition.