Quadratic Vocabulary

Quadratic Vocabulary

1. Axis of Symmetry

   • It is a line of symmetry for a graph.

2. Vertex

   • It is a point where two or more straight lines meet. An edge is a line segment that joins two vertices.

3. Parabola

   • A u-shaped curve with certain specific properties. It is also defined as: For a given point, called the focus, and a given line not through the focus, called the directrix, a parabola is the locus of points such that the distance to the focus equals the distance to the directrix.

4. Minimum

   • The smallest value.

5. Maximum

   • The largest value.

6. X-Intercepts

   • The x-intercept of a line is the point at which the line crosses the x axis.

7. Y-Intercept

   • The y-intercept of a line is the point at which the line crosses the y axis.

8. Zeros of the Function

   • A value of x which makes a function f(x) equal 0. A zero may be real or complex.

9. Roots of the Equation

   • Roots of the equation are such values of the variable, that turn equation into correct equality.

10. End Behavior

    • The appearance of a graph as it is followed farther and farther in either direction. For polynomials, the end behavior is indicated by drawing the positions of the arms of the graph, which may be pointed up or down. Other graphs may also have end behavior indicated in terms of the arms, or in terms of asymptotes or limits.

11. Discriminant

    • The number D = b2 – 4ac determined from the coefficients of the equation ax2 + bx + c = 0. The discriminant reveals what type of roots the equation has.

12. Difference of Squares

    • Two terms that are squared and separated by a subtraction sign like this: a2 - b2; Useful because it can be factored into (a+b)(a−b)

13. Perfect Square Trinomial

    • A perfect square trinomial is one that factors into two identical factors. A trinomial of the form a2 + 2ab + b2 or a2 - 2ab + b2 is a perfect square trinomial with factors (a + b)2 or (a - b)2 respectively.

14. Factors of a Quadratic

    • The definition of factoring is The process of breaking apart of an equation into factors (or separate terms) such that when the separate terms are multiplied together, they produce the original equation. In factoring a quadratic of the form x2 + bx + c, look for two numbers that add to b and multiply to c. Factors of the constant term that add up to the middle term, and use these factors to fill in your parentheses. A form of factoring is the foil process; the reverse of factoring is called FOIL, which stands for first, outer, inner, last.

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