Topic: Parabola Help

how do i make the parabola stop at a specific point insted of going to infinity
like suppose i have the equation
3+ (((x-.5)^2)/4)
and i want it to stop at the point (-.5,0)
what do i do to solve this?
Thankyou

Re: Parabola Help

In the Insert function dialog you can specify an Argument range. Just set From to -5.

3 Reply by Hgirl (edited by Hgirl 2011-12-16 10:24:25)

Re: Parabola Help

Thanks for you help but i am still a little confused
i did enter -5 in the from but the whole parabola went missing. if i use outer numbers like -2, or 5 nothing happens
Thanks and can you please help me again please!


i think i understand that part and i got to edit my graph
my function f(x)=-3+8(x+.5)^2
and             f(x)=-3+8(x-.5)^2
is only partially cut off
for the first one i set the From __-2__To__0__  steps __10__
only the right side was cut off, how do i do the same for the left?
Thanks
PS. I tried changing the numbers a bit and messed around with it but idk what to do. Please help ASAP. Thanksyou

Re: Parabola Help

I just realized you wanted the function cut off at x=-0.5 and not at x=-5. In that case you should set From to -0.5. I suggest you leave the Steps field blank as that will usually give the best result for standard functions.

5 Reply by Hgirl (edited by Hgirl 2011-12-16 10:52:21)

Re: Parabola Help

Thankyou so much!
For my math project(junior year in HS) we were making a "connica tree" so i had to graph the conics i used in my design

it came out great
i am glad i found this program