Math Vocab
Rebecca Carroll
Parabola
A U-Shaped curve where any point is an equal distance from a fixed pint called the focus and a fixed straight line called the directrix.
Example-
2x^2+5x-3=0
Quadratic
An equation where a variable is to the second power.
Example-
2x^2+5x-3=0
Vertex
A point where 2 or more straight lines meet or a corner.
Example-
The four corners of a square are vertices
Axis of Symmetry
A line through a shape or image where the sides are a mirror images of each other.
Example-
See picture
Maximum Value
The maximum or largest value of a quadratic function.
Example-
f(x)=9-x^2
Maximum value is 9. If you subtract any value from 9 it will be less.
Minimum Value
The minimum or lowest possible value of a quadratic function.
Example-
f(x)=16+x^2
Minimum value is 16. If you add any value to 16 it will be greater.
Terms
Each of the quantities or variables in an mathmatical expression
Example-
2x+6-3y
2x, 6, and 3y are all terms
First Differences
To find the first differences you take a table of x and y values and calculate the difference between them in order to determine if it would be a linear function
Example-
X Y The X's increase by 1 and the Y's increase by 3
-2 -6
-1 -3
0 0
1 3
2 6
Second Differences
To find the second differences you take a table of x and y values that is not linear(doesn't have the same first differences). Then take the first differences and find the increasing value between. If they are equal in increasing they are a quadratic function.
Example-
X Y
-8 -321
-5 -141
-2 -33
1 3
4 -33
FD
/
180
108
36
-36
The First differences increase by -72 each. Therefore it's a quadratic.
Zeros(roots)
A functions "zero" is the value that is inserted into a function and outputs a 0 as the product.
Example-
3x-24=0
x=8