Parabola
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A parabola is a conic section with eccentricity equal to one. Parabolas appear as the graphs of quadratic equations and the trajectories of projectiles.
Parabola is a high school-level concept that would be first encountered in a pre-calculus course covering conic sections. It is listed in the California State Standards for Algebra I.
Prerequisites
| Conic Section: | The conic sections are the classes of nondegenerate curves generated by the intersections of a plane with one or two nappes of a cone. A conic section can also be realized as the zero set of a quadratic equation in two variables. |
| Plane Curve: | A plane curve is a curve that lies in a single plane. A plane curve may be closed or open. |