How do you graph the quadratic function y=x^2?

1 Answer
May 30, 2018

See below.

Explanation:

y=x^2 is arguably the simplest standard quadratic function.

We can graph the function by plotting points but it is probably more enlightening to consider a few attributes of y in relation to the general quadratic function: ax^2 + bx+c

Here, a=1 and both b and c =0

The graph of any quadratic function is parabolic

Here, y=0 at x=0

And since a>0 we know that y will have a minimum value on its axis of symmetry where x=(-b)/(2a) =0

Thus, y_min =0 at x=0

With these results and possibly a few extra points we can draw the graph of y as below.

graph{x^2 [-10, 10, -5, 5]}