Algebra 2 students are starting to learn about conic sections. Conic sections are the figures created when a double-napped cone is cut by a plane. To understand how cutting a cone differently creates different figures, students cut cones and dipped them into paint. They then stamped the cones onto paper to see what shape was created in each situation. Students are learning to identify parabolas, hyperbolas, circles, and ellipses by what the figures look like and by how a cone is cut in order to create them. Next, they will begin to look at the graphs of conic sections and also use information from their equations to explain what their graphs will look like.
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