Hailey and the Parabolas

    There are many advantages to living close to your grandkids.  One of them is being able to give a little help with homework.  Particularly math homework.
    The other night, Hailey was graphing quadratics.  Of course, the graph is in the shape of a parabola.   I headed home to get some images that I had used in my Algebra 2 class when we were learning about conic sections.   The first photo is of Hailey at a much younger age in front of some fountains at the Irvine Spectrum.  Naturally the water follows a path in the shape of a parabola.  You also notice these things don't you?  

Hailey and the Parabolas

    Hailey competes in archery so I showed the image from Sports Illustrated of the torch lighting ceremony from the Barcelona Olympics.  Another parabola.  (This image was used in my math classes for the last thirteen years of my teaching career.) For a video of the event click on the link and skip forward to 4:35   Barcelona Olympic Torch Lighting   

Let the Parabolas Begin.¹

     I love my granddaughters and I love parabolas.


1. "Let the Games Begin"  Sports Illustrated,  Aug. 3, 1992