Tom K. answered 05/31/19
Knowledgeable and Friendly Math and Statistics Tutor
You have the wrong axis of symmetry. You should be solving y^2 = ax, not the other way around.
Using (8, 7), we have 7^2 = a * 8.
49 = 8a
a = 49/8
y^2 = 49/8 x
Jac V.
Question: If the axis of symmetry was on the y-axis, I would have solved for: x^2 = ay ??05/31/19
Stephen K.
05/31/19
Stephen K.
05/31/19
Jac V.
Wow, this was so much easier than the way I was doing it. Lol. But yes, I was using the wrong axis of symmetry. I also was not using the simple formula you used! I was using y=a(x-h)^2+k, and then when you pointed out I was using the wrong axis of symmetry, I used x=(y-h)^2+k, but still didn’t get the right answer (I was getting a= 8/49).05/31/19