Activity (Process)

Finding the Intercepts of a Parabola

The intercepts of a parabola with equation y=ax2+bx+cy = ax^2 + bx + c are located by exploiting the defining property of each axis crossing — one coordinate is always zero at the point where the curve meets an axis.

  • To find the y-intercept, substitute x=0x = 0 into the equation and solve for yy. The result is an ordered pair of the form (0,k)(0, k).
  • To find the x-intercepts, substitute y=0y = 0 into the equation and solve the resulting quadratic equation for xx. The solutions give ordered pairs of the form (r,0)(r, 0).

0

1

Updated 2026-04-21

Contributors are:

Who are from:

Tags

OpenStax

Elementary Algebra @ OpenStax

Ch.10 Quadratic Equations - Elementary Algebra @ OpenStax

Algebra

Math

Prealgebra

Related
Learn After