someone tell me if i'm doing it right.
vafa said:
There is no trick. It is a good question because it teaches you not to memorize mathematics. The definition of a parabola is the parabola is the locus of all points which is equidistant from a fixed point (the focus) and a fixed line (the directrix). Use this definition to solve your problem.
" Find the equation of the parabola with focus S (-1,1) and the directrix y=x-2"
Let focus = A
Let the Directrix = B
Let parabola = X
AX^2 = (-1-x)^2 + (1-y)^2
AX^2 = 1+2x+x^2 + 1-2y+y^2
AX^2 = 2 +2x+x^2+2y+y^2
BX = abs ( x - y +2) / sqrt (2)
BX^2 = (x-y+2)^2 / 2
BX^2 = (x^2-2xy+4x-4y+4+y^2) / 2
Subin AX^2 = BX^2
and u get y^2 + x^2 + 8y + 2xy = 0