Question

What is the vertex form of the graphed equation? (-4,-2)



y = - (x -
)2 +

Answers

GPT-4o mini
To write the equation of a parabola in vertex form, we use the formula:

\[
y = a(x - h)^2 + k
\]

where \( (h, k) \) is the vertex of the parabola and \( a \) determines the direction and width of the parabola.

Given the vertex \( (-4, -2) \), we can substitute \( h \) and \( k \) into the equation:

- \( h = -4 \)
- \( k = -2 \)

So, we can substitute these values into the vertex form:

\[
y = a(x - (-4))^2 - 2
\]

or simplified:

\[
y = a(x + 4)^2 - 2
\]

You mentioned that the equation starts with \( y = - (x - \ldots)^2 + \ldots \). It looks like you want the parabola to open downwards since the leading coefficient appears to be negative (-).

Thus, the equation now becomes:

\[
y = -a(x + 4)^2 - 2
\]

To fully specify the equation, we need to know the value of \( a \). The value of \( a \) can be determined based on another point on the parabola or more information about its width. If you have that information, please provide it; otherwise, we can leave \( a \) as a variable.

So the vertex form of the equation will be:

\[
y = -a(x + 4)^2 - 2
\]

where \( a > 0 \) makes the parabola wider, while \( a < 0 \) makes it narrower (if you later specify a point on the graph or the value of \( a \), we can determine the exact form).