How can I find the stationary points of a parabola given it's equation?

You can find the stationary points by differentiating the equation and then solving it for zero. What this means, is that you can take the power of the Xs in the equation, and differentiate by bringing the power to the front, and then subtracting one from the power in front of the X. For example, for y = X^2, differentiating it would give 2x. You can then set f(x) = 0, and find the value of x for which f(x) is equal to 0 by solving like an algebraic equation. This will give you the stationary x coordinate. You can then use this value and substitute it in for x in the original equation to solve for f(x) or y. The gives you the y coordinate of the stationary point.

Answered by Miriam A. Maths tutor

4203 Views

See similar Maths GCSE tutors

Related Maths GCSE answers

All answers ▸

You are shown a diagram of a right angled triangle, with the hypotenuse labelled c and the other sides labelled a and b. If a is 7m long and c is 10m long, what is the length of b?


x = 0.436363636... . Prove algebraically that x can be written as 24/55.


How do you work out the circumference and area of a circle?


A rectangle has the side lengths root6m and root3m, what is the area of the rectangle in its simplest form.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact usWhatsapp logoMessage us on Whatsapptelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

© MyTutorWeb Ltd 2013–2024

Terms & Conditions|Privacy Policy