How can you match a parabola to it's graph? I know that in y=ax^2+bx+c, the a tells you if it opens upwards or downwards, and the c tells you the y-intercept..is there anything else?

3 answers

You can find the x-intercepts through factoring or through the quadratic formula.

You can also find the vertex like this:

tinyurl . com / cn393p
You could also find the vertex like this:

The x-value is -b/2a

When you plug the x-value into the parabola's equation, you get the y-value of the vertex.
thank you