EFFECT OF COEFFICIENT OF X^2 ON PARABOLA SHAPE
ConcepTest

Consider the general form of a quadratic function,  

    or     ,    where a≠0.

1.	If a>0 and if the coefficient a is increased in value,  how will this increase affect the shape of the parabola?  For the sake of simplicity, you may assume that both b and c are fixed values and that b=1 and c=2.  

The shape of the resulting parabola will be:

CIRCLE ONE:     A.  NARROWER	      B.  SAME SHAPE 	C.  WIDER

CIRCLE ONE:     A.  OPENING UPWARD	      B.  OPENING DOWNWARD

2.	If a<0 and if the coefficient a becomes increasingly negative in value (i.e., as  increases while a remains negative), how will this increase affect the shape of the parabola?  For the sake of simplicity, you may assume that both b and c are fixed values and that b=1 and c=2.  

The shape of the resulting parabola will be:

CIRCLE ONE:     A.  NARROWER	      B.  SAME SHAPE 	C.  WIDER

CIRCLE ONE:     A.  OPENING UPWARD	      B.  OPENING DOWNWARD