I’m year 11 and doing a old Maths paper at the moment and I’ve come to the exellence question.
I have a parabola that has the following co ordinates and i am in desperate need on how to make them in to a quadratic equation
(5, 0)
(25,0)
(15,10) thats the maximum
there’s no Y intersept as the graph doessn’t show it
the answer sheet gives the equation:
y = -0.1(x-15)^2+10
any help on how they got that would be much appreciated
Hi GeoNerd
Welcome to the Studyit forum.
If we draw the graph of the equation they give as an answer we find that it goes through the two points on the x axis (5,0) and (25,0). Not the two points on the y axis you give.
We start with the standard equation
1…y = x2
The question tells us that the maximum is (15,10).
This tells us that the vertex 0 (which was at (0,0), has been moved 15 across and 10 up.
We have to adjust the equation by replacing y with (y-10) and x with (x-15).
2…y-10 = (x-15)^2
The parabola may have been stretched in someway. We need a coefficient to show this.
3…y-10 = a(x-15)2
If this parabola goes through the point (5,0), then we can substitute those coordinates in the equation to find the value of a.
4…0-10 = a(5-15)2
5…-10 = a.102
6…a = -0.1
So the equation is
7…y = -0.1(x-15)2 + 10
Cheers
MT