Expert: Richard J. Raridon - 8/4/2005

Question
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Followup To
Question -
Find the equation of the axis of symmetry and the coordinates of the vertex of the graph of each quadratic function.
y=x^2-2x-8
Answer -
you could find these by plotting a few points.  x=1, (1,-9)

OK, but i don't know what to do or what a quadratic function is.. If i plot some points, what does that mean?

Answer
A quadratic function is what you have - one variable is a function of the square of the other variable.  Do you have some graph paper?   If so, draw x and y axes with the origin in the middle of the sheet.  If you plot some points you will see what the function looks like.  Try plotting these : (-2,0),(-1,-5),(0,-8),(1,-9),(2,-8),(3,-5)(4,0) and you will see that you have a parabola with the vertex at
(1,-9) and it's symmetric about the vertical axis, x=1.