Parabola

**loollool** · December 4th 2008, 12:35 PM

Hi,
How do you prove that the projection of the intersection point between two tangents of the parabola projected to the x-axix is at the midpoint between the two points (of tangents with the parabola) on the x axis.?
Thanks

**running-gag** · December 5th 2008, 08:57 AM

Hi,

Let P be the parabola $ax^2 + bx + c$
One Cartesian equation of the tangent of the parabola at point $x_0, y_0$ is
$y = (2a x_0 + b)x - a {x_0}^2 + c$

The abscissa of the intersection point between two tangents of the parabola at points $x_0, y_0$ and $x_1, y_1$ is given by

$(2a x_0 + b)x - a {x_0}^2 + c = (2a x_1 + b)x - a {x_1}^2 + c$

Simplification leads to

$2a (x_0 - x_1)x - a (x_0 - x_1)(x_0 + x_1) = 0$

a being non-zero and x0 being different from x1

$x = \frac{x_0 + x_1}{2}$

**loollool** · December 5th 2008, 12:31 PM

does this work for the parabola y=x^2 as well?

**running-gag** · December 5th 2008, 12:42 PM

I considered the general equation of parabolas
At the end the solution is independent with a, b and c
Therefore it also works for y=x²
Just take a=1, b=0 and c=0

Thread: Parabola

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Display

Parabola

Similar Math Help Forum Discussions

Parabola

parabola

Parabola help please

Parabola

parabola

Search Tags