Scribd
Upload
9 views

Parametric Equations

Uploaded by

Luca Younes
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
9 views

Parametric Equations

Uploaded by

Luca Younes
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

#reference-material

Parameter: Independent variable which both x and y depend on

An ordered pair with parameter t looks like:

(x(t), y(t))

Parametric equations are useful to define things which are not explicitly functions

-10 -5 0 5 10

-5

Deparameterizing
Parametric equations can be rewritten into single equations
2
x(t) = t − 3, y(t) = 2t + 1

Solve one equation for t

y − 1
t =
2

Substitute into other equation


2
y − 1
x = − 3
2

Parameterize
First, it is always possible to parameterize a curve by defining x(t)=t, then replacing x with t in the equation for y(t).
2
y = 2x − 3

2
x(t) = t, y(t) = 2t − 3

If there was a limited domain, we would need to restrict the values of t


We have freedom over the second parameterization. Just make literally anything up. We only need to check that
there are no restrictions of x - that the range of x(t) is all real numbers. It can be..

x(t) = 3t − 2

Since y=2x^2 - 3, we an substitute the above for x...


2
y(t) = 2(3t − 2) − 3

2
= 2(9t − 12t + 4) − 3

2
= 18t − 24t + 5

Finally giving
2
x(t) = 3t − 2, y(t) = 18t − 24t + 5

You might also like