parabola

[puh-rab-uh-luh] /pəˈræb ə lə/

noun, Geometry

a plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone with a plane parallel to a generator of the cone; the set of points in a plane that are equidistant from a fixed line and a fixed point in the same plane or in a parallel plane. Equation: y ² = 2 px or x ² = 2 py.

Origin

1570-80; < New Latin < Greek parabolḗ an application. See parable

Examples from the web for parabola

Scenarios are best kept for the theatre, postures for the gym, parameters for the parabola.
As you have probably seen before, the trajectory is a parabola.
Fitting a parabola to the data gives the acceleration.
The tip of the parabola will, mathematically, be a singularity.
Some people are disappointed because the top of the parabola isn't all that high.
But look at the graceful parabola traced by water squirting from a sprinkler, or watch a football arcing through the air.
The white ball sails into the sparkling air in a high parabola and vanishes over the fence, again.
The values of a, b, and c determine where the parabola is positioned in the plane and whether it opens up or down.
In such a system, the receiver tube is positioned along the focal line of each parabola-shaped reflector.

British Dictionary definitions for parabola

parabola

/pəˈræbələ/

noun

a conic section formed by the intersection of a cone by a plane parallel to its side. Standard equation: y² = 4ax, where 2a is the distance between focus and directrix

Word Origin

C16: via New Latin from Greek parabolē a setting alongside; see parable

Word Origin and History for parabola

1570s, from Modern Latin parabola, from Greek parabole "parabola, comparison, analogy; application" (see parable), so called by Apollonius of Perga c.210 B.C.E. because it is produced by "application" of a given area to a given straight line. It had a different sense in Pythagorean geometry. Related: Parabolic.

parabola in Science

parabola

(pə-rāb'ə-lə)

The curve formed by the set of points in a plane that are all equally distant from both a given line (called the directrix) and a given point (called the focus) that is not on the line.

parabola in Culture

parabola [(puh-rab-uh-luh)]

A geometrical shape (see geometry) consisting of a single bend and two lines going off to an infinite distance.

Note: An object that is propelled away from the Earth and then drawn back by gravity, such as a fly ball in baseball, follows a path shaped like a parabola.