Quadratics... yikes... How 'bout we try to make them fun. Did you know that a parabola is a type of quadratic function? It's the same idea as a football punt or throwing a rock off the roof of your house (free-falling object's path). So what does the function f(x)=ax^2+bx+c mean to you? Try graphing f(x) =-1/4x^2-2x+1. What do you see? How about a parabolic hill!
Parabolic hills are a type of roller coaster hill! It is a hill with an almost continuous curve and very little or no straight track. Now we all love roller coasters and we all love math, right? And we owe our thanks to a man named John Allen who is credited with the design of the parabolic hill. Now what is so amazing about parabolic hills? Remember how I told you a parabola is the path of free-falling object? Well, because the parabolic hill can be considered the path of a falling object and because you the rider will travel at the same speed of the roller coaster (not to mention that the roller coaster will not exert any force on the rider), the rider is considered to be in free-fall! Remember the last time you rode a roller coaster, and you went over a hill and it felt as though you weren't on the tracks any more? Ya, that was a parabolic hill. One more fun little thing... in some cases the roller coaster will lift off the tracks when going over the parabolic hill. Nobody freak out. So next time you're stuck in class pretend that quadratic in front of you is the best free-falling roller coaster in the world.
Parabolic hills are a type of roller coaster hill! It is a hill with an almost continuous curve and very little or no straight track. Now we all love roller coasters and we all love math, right? And we owe our thanks to a man named John Allen who is credited with the design of the parabolic hill. Now what is so amazing about parabolic hills? Remember how I told you a parabola is the path of free-falling object? Well, because the parabolic hill can be considered the path of a falling object and because you the rider will travel at the same speed of the roller coaster (not to mention that the roller coaster will not exert any force on the rider), the rider is considered to be in free-fall! Remember the last time you rode a roller coaster, and you went over a hill and it felt as though you weren't on the tracks any more? Ya, that was a parabolic hill. One more fun little thing... in some cases the roller coaster will lift off the tracks when going over the parabolic hill. Nobody freak out. So next time you're stuck in class pretend that quadratic in front of you is the best free-falling roller coaster in the world.