Focus of a Parabola

Algebrator can easily solve problems such as the one you posted on Yahoo Answers.

Finding the Focus of a Parabola is one of the many tasks available on the Wizard menu.

An example using your equation is described below.

You must first start by entering the Equation of the Parabola.

We need to bring this equation to a graphable form, so we move the terms to the left side.

Some Important features are:

1.Flash demos, found under the drop-down menu "Help->Tutors".

The demos are also available online at "https://softmath.com/demos/", where you may simply select any of the ".htm"

files and the demo will play within your browser

2. Wizard button - for example, click the Wizard button and look under the category of "Parabola" to see the many useful

templates for Parabola equations.

3. The Explain button, which provides the mathematical logic involved in the selected step.

We know that the Parabola will be horizontal, because the linear term contains x.

You can see the rest of the step-by-step solution process by clicking on the "solve step" button several times.

An explanation can be obtained by clicking on the "Explain" button at any step.

This is the equation that represents an horizontal parabola:

x = a(y-k)^2+h

where (h,k) represents the vertex

Finally we get the coordinates for the Focus.

It´s important to note that the "visibility" button allows us to see more or less steps invloved in the process.

Finally you can also see the graphical representation of the solution