Same Distance Parabola
What curve do you mark out if you stay the same distance from a point as from a straight line?
Maybe a good exercise as a first practical experience of a parabola: lots of happy children sitting on the floor (or the beach) with a line and a point to concentrate on.
“Stand up if you think you are the same distance from the line as from the point!” A long tape measure would be handy.
Here is the Word document that was used to create the image above...
Graphical analysis video using Autograph
Douglas Butler illustrates how to test whether this image represents a parabola using the image as a base.
Play with this Autograph file here...
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Douglas Butler
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