Graphing a Parabola

Curricular Task

Having ‘a’ being negative determines that the parabola is going to face downwards. Having 0<a<1 also tells us that this specific parabola is going to expand by a factor of negative one third. When ‘h’ is negative it shifts right, so when h=-7 the parabolas vertex shifts 7 to the right. When ‘k’ is positive the parabola shifts up, so when k=1 the vertex shifts up one. Together ‘h’ and ‘k’ work to find the vertex of the parabola which is (7,1). Everything changed when my parabolas equation changed. I feel ‘a’ made the biggest difference because it changed to negative so that switched the parabola to face downwards.

Self Assessment

I represented the same mathematical equation (shown above under “Blue Parabola”) in graph form, writing the equation and through breaking down and explaining the equation is sentence form. I used mathematical vocabulary throughout my paragraph by talking about the vertex, horizontal shift, vertical shift and my parabolas function. I find keeping my work organized helps me to convey and portray my exact thinking in a clear and concise way. The size of graph I choose to how I laid out my writing all added to how I wanted to share my ideas and thinking.