KS3

How to construct a parabola

Part ofMathsStraight line graphs

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How do you construct a parabola?

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Click to see a step-by-step slideshow.
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WHAT YOU NEED: 182 coins and card.
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STEP 1: Place a coin on a flat surface. Next to it, place four coins in the shape of a square.
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STEP 2: Repeat this four times, increasing the size of the square by 1 coin in width and height each time. You should be left with 6 squares.
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STEP 3: Stack each square of coins into a pile - you should have six piles of coins which increase in size from left to right.
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STEP 4: To the left of these six piles, repeat this step in the opposite direction. The second set of coins should decrease in height from left to right.
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You can see that the coins in this formation make a parabola (a u-shaped symmetrical curve). You can see this clearly if you line the coins up with a piece of card and draw a curve along the edge of the piles of coins.

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