SOLUTION: I am very interested in how one would derive a quadratic equation from a physical parabola. I have one that measures 3.5" from vertex to "mouth" and 4.5" across the "mouth." I plot
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-> SOLUTION: I am very interested in how one would derive a quadratic equation from a physical parabola. I have one that measures 3.5" from vertex to "mouth" and 4.5" across the "mouth." I plot
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Question 166325: I am very interested in how one would derive a quadratic equation from a physical parabola. I have one that measures 3.5" from vertex to "mouth" and 4.5" across the "mouth." I plotted it on a graph with a y intercept of 3.5 and x intercepts of 2.25, -2.25. I played with your quadratic solver and a graphing calculator and the closest I was able to come to was . How could I solve this without using the aforementioned tools?
Thank you Answer by Fombitz(32388) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Center your parabola at (0,0).
Then the general equation of the parabola becomes
From your measurement, at x=2.25, y=3.5,
a is the same, the other constant just scales the graph with regards to the origin.