SOLUTION: Can anyone help me with this? Find the vertex, focus, and directrix of the given parabola and sketch it's graph: y squared = - 16x

Algebra ->  Graphs -> SOLUTION: Can anyone help me with this? Find the vertex, focus, and directrix of the given parabola and sketch it's graph: y squared = - 16x      Log On


   

Question 35466This question is from textbook algebra for college students
: Can anyone help me with this?
Find the vertex, focus, and directrix of the given parabola and sketch it's graph:
y squared = - 16x This question is from textbook algebra for college students

Answer by rapaljer(4671) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
y%5E2+=+-16x+ is a parabola that opens to the left. The vertex of course is the origin (0,0). The focus and directix are at a distance of p from the vertex, where 4p = 16, so p=4. The focus is within the arc of the parabola, so it will be to the left of the origin at (-4,0) and the directrix will be to the right of the vertex. The directrix will be the vertical line x = 4. The graph will be
+graph+%28300%2C+300%2C+-10%2C+10%2C+-10%2C+10%2C+sqrt%28-16x%29%2C+-sqrt%28-16x%29%29

R^2 at SCC