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Kiran graphed the equation and noticed that the vertex is at . He changed the equation to and saw that the graph shifted 3 units to the right and the vertex is now at .
Next, he graphed the equation and observed that the vertex is at . Kiran thought, “If I change the squared term to , the graph of will be 5 units to the right and the vertex will be at .”
Do you agree with Kiran? Explain or show your reasoning.
Select students to share their equations for the first question and their explanations for how they knew what modifications to make.
Then focus the discussion on the third question and how students knew that, when a quadratic expression is in standard form, adding a constant term before squaring the input variable does not translate the graph the same way as when the expression is in vertex form. At this point, students are not expected to come up with a rigorous justification as to why the graph will not translate as Kiran described. They are only to make this observation and consider ways to explain it.
Solicit as many explanations as time permits. If no one mentioned that the expression is not in vertex form and that its parameters do not relate to the graph the same way, bring up these points.
If time permits, consider pointing out that in the input shows up in the squared term and the linear term. If we subtract 5 from before it is squared but do not subtract 5 from before it is multiplied by 2, then the graph does not shift horizontally. (If we graph , the graph does shift 5 units to the right.) In a later course, students will look more closely at the effects on the graph of replacing by, for instance, and .
Select students with contrasting strategies to share their equations and explanations for the second question. To verify that students’ proposed equations meet the animation criteria, consider graphing students’ proposed equations for all to see. Highlight the three strategies mentioned in the Activity Narrative.
Point out one distinction between the graphs in this activity and previous graphs that represent projectile motions. In earlier cases, the output represented the height of an object as a function of time, so the graph of the function and that actual physical trajectory of the object may be very different (for example, the object may be going straight up and then fall straight down, but the graph shows a parabola). Here, they see a model in which the height of an object is a function of horizontal distance, so the path of the object in a projectile motion does resemble the graph representing the function.
Math Community
Conclude the discussion by inviting 2–3 students to share a norm they identified in action. Provide this sentence frame to help students organize their thoughts in a clear, precise way:
Provide access to devices that can run Desmos or other graphing technology.
Do you see 2 “eyes” and a smiling “mouth” on the graph? The 3 arcs on the graph all represent quadratic functions that were initially defined by , but whose equations were later modified.
Mai is learning to create computer animation by programming. In one part of her animation, she uses a quadratic function to model the path of the main character, an animated peanut, jumping over a wall.
Mai uses the equation to represent the path of the jump. represents the height of the peanut as a function of the horizontal distance, , that it travels.
On the screen, the base of the wall is located at , with the top of the wall at . The dashed curve in the picture shows the graph of 1 equation that Mai tried, where the peanut fails to make it over the wall.
Some students may randomly choose values for and until they find a combination whose graph meets the requirements. Encourage them to reason about the problem more systematically, by considering what they learned about the vertex form.