4-2 Standard Form of a Quadratic Function

Objective

To graph quadratic functions written in standard form

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In Lesson 4-1, you worked with quadratic functions written in vertex form. Now you will use quadratic functions in standard form. The standard form of a quadratic function is f ( x ) = a x 2 + b x + c , f open x close equals eh , x squared , plus b x plus c comma  where a ≠ 0 . eh not equal to 0 .

Essential Understanding For any quadratic function f ( x ) = a x 2 + b x + c , f open x close equals eh , x squared , plus b x plus c comma  the values of a, b, and c provide key information about its graph.

You can find information about the graph of a quadratic function (such as the vertex) easily from the vertex form. Such information is “hidden” in standard form. However, standard form is easier to enter into a graphing calculator.

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