Graphing Quadratic Functions: The Leading Coefficient / The Vertex

The general form of a quadratic is "y = ax2 + bx + c". For graphing, the leading coefficient "a" indicates how "fat" or how "skinny" the parabola will be.
For | a | > 1 (such as a = 3 or a = –4), the parabola will be "skinny", because it grows more quickly (three times as fast or four times as fast, respectively, in the case of our sample values 
of a).
For | a | < 1 (such as a = 1/3 or a = –1/4 ), the parabola will be "fat", because it grows more slowly (one-third as fast or one-fourth as fast, respectively, in the examples). Also, if a is negative, then the parabola is upside-down.
 
 
 
You can see these trends when you look at how the curve y = ax2 moves as "a" changes.
category:equations