Find the Focus y=1/8(x-3)^2+6

$y = \frac{1}{8} {(x - 3)}^{2} + 6$

Step 1

Use the vertex form, $y = a {(x - h)}^{2} + k$ , to determine the values of $a$ , $h$ , and $k$ .

$a = \frac{1}{8}$

$h = 3$

$k = 6$

Step 2

Find the vertex $(h, k)$ .

$(3, 6)$

Step 3

Find $p$ , the distance from the vertex to the focus.

Find the distance from the vertex to a focus of the parabola by using the following formula.

$\frac{1}{4 a}$

Substitute the value of $a$ into the formula.

$\frac{1}{4 \cdot \frac{1}{8}}$

Simplify.

Combine $4$ and $\frac{1}{8}$ .

$\frac{1}{\frac{4}{8}}$

Cancel the common factor of $4$ and $8$ .

Factor $4$ out of $4$ .

$\frac{1}{\frac{4 (1)}{8}}$

Cancel the common factors.

Factor $4$ out of $8$ .

$\frac{1}{\frac{4 \cdot 1}{4 \cdot 2}}$

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{1}{\frac{4 \cdot 1}{4 \cdot 2}}$

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{1}{\frac{1}{2}}$

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

$1 \cdot 2$

Multiply $2$ by $1$ .

$2$

Step 4

Find the focus.

The focus of a parabola can be found by adding $p$ to the y-coordinate $k$ if the parabola opens up or down.

$(h, k + p)$

Substitute the known values of $h$ , $p$ , and $k$ into the formula and simplify.

$(3, 8)$

Step 5