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Suppose a system of Cartesian coordinates is used such that the vertex of the parabola is at the origin, and the axis of symmetry is the y axis. The parabola opens upward. It is shown elsewhere in this article that the equation of the parabola is 4fy = x 2, where f is the focal length. At the positive x end of the chord, x = c / 2 and y ...
In mathematics, the eccentricity of a conic section is a non-negative real number that uniquely characterizes its shape. One can think of the eccentricity as a measure of how much a conic section deviates from being circular. In particular: The eccentricity of a circle is 0. The eccentricity of an ellipse which is not a circle is between 0 and 1.
If the parabola does not intersect the x-axis, there are two complex conjugate roots. Although these roots cannot be visualized on the graph, their real and imaginary parts can be. [17] Let h and k be respectively the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate of the vertex of the parabola (that is the point with maximal or minimal y-coordinate.
Given a quadratic polynomial of the form + the numbers h and k may be interpreted as the Cartesian coordinates of the vertex (or stationary point) of the parabola. That is, h is the x-coordinate of the axis of symmetry (i.e. the axis of symmetry has equation x = h), and k is the minimum value (or maximum value, if a < 0) of the quadratic function.
Quadratic formula. The roots of the quadratic function y = 1 2 x2 − 3x + 5 2 are the places where the graph intersects the x -axis, the values x = 1 and x = 5. They can be found via the quadratic formula. In elementary algebra, the quadratic formula is a closed-form expression describing the solutions of a quadratic equation.
Vertex (curve) An ellipse (red) and its (blue). The dots are the vertices of the curve, each corresponding to a cusp on the evolute. In the geometry of plane curves, a vertex is a point of where the first derivative of curvature is zero. [1] This is typically a local maximum or minimum of curvature, [2] and some authors define a vertex to be ...
With reference to the figure on the right, the important features of the parabola can be derived as follows: [13] Tangents to the parabola at the endpoints of the curve (A and B) intersect at its control point (C). If D is the midpoint of AB, the tangent to the curve which is perpendicular to CD (dashed cyan line) defines its vertex (V). Its ...
Parabolic coordinates. Parabolic coordinates are a two-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system in which the coordinate lines are confocal parabolas. A three-dimensional version of parabolic coordinates is obtained by rotating the two-dimensional system about the symmetry axis of the parabolas. Parabolic coordinates have found many applications ...