Mouse Scares Boys (and a few girls) in Class

Yes, it's true, we had a mouse (well, actually 2) in class today, which distracted many students, especially boys for about 10 minutes. After getting settled, students successfully discovered that the coefficient of the x^2 term (a) determines whether a parabola opens up or down, as well as how wide or skinny it will be. We talked about some vocabulary (vertex, line of symmetry, slope, and y-intercept) and related these terms to the parabola. Students also were successful in determining that "c" moves the parabola up or down on the coordinate grid. Determining what "b" does was a little more mysterious, and that's where we will focus our investigation today.

Tonight's Homework: Using the general formula of y = x^2 + bx, try to determine the relationship between a and b that governs the location of the parabola on the coordinate grid. Focus on the vertex and the line of symmetry, as these are big clues.