“a”, “h” and “k” are all important in a parabola. The “a” value shows if a parabola opens upwards or downwards. If “a” is a positive number, the parabola opens upward. If “a” is a negative number, the parabola opens downwards. “h” moves the parabola left or right and “k” moves it up or down. The vertex of a parabola is written in the form of (h,k). In my equation (#2 in the legend below), since “a” is positive, the parabola will open upwards and keep going up. In my equation (#4 in the legend below), the vertex is (-2,5) since “h” is -2 and “k” is 5. The parabola will move left since “h” is negative but appears as +2 since the bracket has (x-h) in the equation. The parabola will move up since “k” is positive and will appear as +5 in the equation since k comes after the bracket.

Self Assessment

We showed the importance “a”, “h” and “k” and how it generally affects a parabola and then used the same ideas to explain the importance of “a”, “h” and “k” in my equations. Some mathematical vocabulary that I don’t normally use that I used were: brackets, equation, value, legend, vertex. I found these words in class notes, and basic knowledge and my math workbook. I wrote my response as a paragraph and also attached my image and legend in a clear way that is easy to read and understand.