How Do You Calculate The Focal Point Of A Parabola?
Finding the focal point of a parabola is a task you may have to accomplish in a high school or college geometry class. You will also need to know how to find the focal point if you ever attempt to build a parabolic cooker. You can find the focal point by working through the steps of a mathematical equation. Measure the width of the parabola from rim to rim. You can measure the width with a ruler or by observing the markings on a piece of graph paper on which the parabola is drawn. Find the radius of the parabola by dividing your answer from Step 1 in half. For instance, if the measurement in Step 1 was 20 centimeters, the radius would be 10 centimeters. Square the radius. In this example, you would multiply 10 times 10 to get an answer of 100. Find out how deep the parabola is by measuring from its vertex (lowest point) to the highest point of its two sides. For this example, consider the depth to be 10 centimeters. Multiply the depth by 4. Therefore, you would have 10 times 4, which e
