This applet allows students to play with each of the three coefficients of a quadratic equation in standard form, and see their effect on the graph. The effects of the coefficients of the quadratic and constant terms will be familiar to students who have studied dilations and translations. But the effects of the linear term coefficient are usually surprising to most people when they play with it for the first time. By comparing standard and vertex forms of an equation, then expanding vertex form and equating the resulting coefficients to the standard form coefficients, the graph's behavior when [b]b[/b] is changed can be better understood.
