Graphing quadratics review (article) | Khan Academy (2024)

The graph of a quadratic function is a parabola, which is a "u"-shaped curve. In this article, we review how to graph quadratic functions.

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  • riley9948

    4 years agoPosted 4 years ago. Direct link to riley9948's post “How even do you guys DO t...”

    How even do you guys DO that?!

    (17 votes)

    • CreatorOfBob

      4 years agoPosted 4 years ago. Direct link to CreatorOfBob's post “Do some more Khan Academy...”

      Graphing quadratics review (article) | Khan Academy (4)

      Graphing quadratics review (article) | Khan Academy (5)

      Do some more Khan Academy videos and exercises. You'll get the hang of it sooner of later if you try! Good luck!

      (49 votes)

  • daily2015

    7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to daily2015's post “how to find the vertex”

    how to find the vertex

    (10 votes)

    • David Severin

      7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to David Severin's post “One way is to complete th...”

      Graphing quadratics review (article) | Khan Academy (9)

      One way is to complete the square and put in vertex form, Another way is to use -b/2a as the x coordinate and then use that to solve for y.

      (22 votes)

  • Andrew Escobedo

    5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to Andrew Escobedo's post “We only use two point her...”

    We only use two point here to graph a parabola but I've heard that it takes three points to define one. Is it true that an infinite number of parabolas can be drawn through just two distinct points? on the coordinate plane?

    (5 votes)

    • David Severin

      5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to David Severin's post “If you know the vertex an...”

      Graphing quadratics review (article) | Khan Academy (13)

      If you know the vertex and another point, then you also know the reflexive point, so you have 3 points. So two points work as long as one of them is the vertex.

      (13 votes)

  • Keith Lee

    5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to Keith Lee's post “On paper, how would I fin...”

    On paper, how would I find the curve to nicely draw it out? Would I have to plot several points to graph it out by hand or is there another rule?

    (7 votes)

    • David Severin

      5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to David Severin's post “Yes, the more points you ...”

      Yes, the more points you plot, the more accurate you can draw the curve. Some turn the graph paper sideways and draw on one side of the vertex, rotate it 180 degrees and draw on the other side of the vertex.

      (5 votes)

  • Isaiah Walker

    5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to Isaiah Walker's post “Question? WHere did the w...”

    Question? WHere did the word quadratics come from?

    (7 votes)

    • Spencer York

      2 years agoPosted 2 years ago. Direct link to Spencer York's post “It comes from the Latin w...”

      It comes from the Latin word quadratum, which means square.

      (4 votes)

  • just 🐻

    2 years agoPosted 2 years ago. Direct link to just 🐻's post “Do i need to learn these,...”

    Do i need to learn these, or will it come back to me if i skip parbolas?

    (3 votes)

    • Spencer York

      2 years agoPosted 2 years ago. Direct link to Spencer York's post “Yes, don't skip it. Try t...”

      Yes, don't skip it. Try to understand it, and it will save you a lot of frustration later on.

      (8 votes)

  • Rondina397

    4 years agoPosted 4 years ago. Direct link to Rondina397's post “On example no.1. How did ...”

    On example no.1. How did he came up with x=-4 to plug into the equation?

    And also in Practise problem no.2, how did he came up with x=0 to plug into the equation?

    (3 votes)

    • Kim Seidel

      4 years agoPosted 4 years ago. Direct link to Kim Seidel's post “On Example 1, the vertex ...”

      On Example 1, the vertex was at (-5,4). Sal moved over 1 unit to pick x=-4. I believe he did this to demonstrate the impact of the -2 in front. It reduced the y-value of 4 by 2 units.

      On practice problem 2, I'm sure he picked x=0 to find the y-intercept of the equation.

      (5 votes)

  • jalilshair32

    a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to jalilshair32's post “why plugged x=−4x,when yo...”

    why plugged x=−4x,when you can do y=0

    (3 votes)

    • Kim Seidel

      a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Kim Seidel's post “Sal has the equation: y =...”

      Sal has the equation: y = -2(x+5)^2+4. This is vertex form. So, you graph the vertex and then find points to the left and right of the vertex.

      When Y is isolated already and the equation is in vertex form, it is easier to pick values of X and calculate Y especially when you have a 2nd degree (quadratic) equation or higher degree. The math is usually simpler.

      If the equation had been in standard form: y=Ax^2+Bx+C, then it is quite common to find the x-intercepts 1st (set y=0 and calculate X). Though, you can also get the vertex pretty easily from this form and work outward from there.

      The benefit of having the vertex is that you know the highest / lowest point in the graph and you know the graph will be symmetrical as it moves away from the vertex.

      (2 votes)

  • addjackie

    a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to addjackie's post “I understand how to do th...”

    I understand how to do this on the quizzes, using the graphing tool, but I'm not sure how I would draw the rest of the parabola "freehand" on paper. How would I know that I extended it perfectly beyond the zero coordinates?

    (2 votes)

    • Shota Oniani

      a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Shota Oniani's post “It isn't realistically po...”

      It isn't realistically possible to freehand a parabola, especially on paper. That's why you will not really need to do it that often. In tests and other scenarios where you're asked to graph a parabola the most important things to get right will always be the location(s) of the zero(s) and the vertex. The actual curvature and shape of the parabola is mostly irrelevant if you have those numbers dialed in.

      If you have all of that information the last bit of info you can use to help draw a more accurate parabola is the "a" coefficient in front of your squared term. That determines how "squished" or "stretched" your parabola actually is. You can visualize this by going to an online graphing calculator (or other alternative) and playing around with that value.

      Hope this helps:)

      (3 votes)

  • B R I A N

    5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to B R I A N's post “Is there a simpler way to...”

    Is there a simpler way to solve this?

    (3 votes)

    • David Severin

      5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to David Severin's post “Are you talking about the...”

      Are you talking about the vertex form or the standard form? Learning the parent function helps graph vertex form by using the idea of scale factor. So parent function has (0.0)(1,1) and (-1,1), (2,4) and (-2,4) because 2^2=(-2)^2=4. With a scale factor of -2, multiply the y times 2 and "act like the vertex" is the origin. With the vertex at (-5,4) and a=-2, go down 2 over 1 both left and right from vertex (1,1) and (-1,1) switches to (1,-2) and (-1,-2) from vertex, you might be able to go down 8 over 2 both left and right for more points (2,4) switches to (2,-8).
      For the standard form, you could complete the square to get into vertex form.

      (0 votes)

Graphing quadratics review (article) | Khan Academy (2024)

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