Powerful Student Proofs from CAS-Enhanced Classrooms

USACAS9 July 18-19, 2015

Chris Harrow, Hawken School
casmusings@gmail.com @chris_harrow
cdharr@hawken.edu

ORIGINS OF THE IDEA:

In the first or second USACAS conference I attended, I attended a session where the presenter had us
explore the behavior of standard form quadratics, y ax bx c .
2

We know the effects of varying a and c, but what happens when b changes?
Nspire CAS file: Quad Explore
I now use sliders whenever I explore any function family.

For this problem, what path does the vertex follow? Can you prove the vertex always rides on this
curve? A CAS proof provides both solutions.

POLAR BOUNCING & SLIDING:

I was dissatisfied with traditional textbook treatments of polar curves defined by r a b cos -cardioids and limaons with and without loops. Clearly, this is a family of curves, so why are we
treating the curves as discrete, disconnected entities?
How could I help students see these as a single dynamic family?
Considering Cartesian graphs of trigonometric graphs y a b cos x , the traditional approach is to
think of this as a fixed parent sinusoid ( y cos x ) that has been vertically stretched and translated.
That certainly works, but what happens if I think about these not as images of a static parent function,
but as a dynamic function?
A sinusoidal function describes a dynamic, repeating process.
How do you graph a Cartesian-defined sinusoid bouncing between its ceiling and floor?
How do you graph a polar sinusoid bouncing between its ceiling and floor?
What happens if you change the graphs frequency?
Re-envision y a b cos kx and r a b cos k as bouncing graphs.
Nspire CAS file: Intro Polar

ASIDE: Its another presentation, but after adopting this process, we realized that while a and b define
the ceiling and floor, no one ever said they had to be constants.
What happens if your ceiling and/or floor is variably-defined?

We understood deeply the behavior of limaons with and without variable ceilings/floors. Just playing

might look like. I knew the ceiling/floor would
k

around, I wondered what the graphs of r cos

be r 1 and that it would take 0,2 k to get a complete graph. From there, I expected
something similar to rose curves. Surprise!

Explore r cos

Nspire CAS file: Polar Fractions

was a complete surprise.
3

The graph of r cos

It looks like a

1
1
horizontal translation of r cos .
2
2

But thats not supposed to happen! In polar, you can rotate not translate. Right?
From my experiences teaching AP Calculus BC, I converted the polar function to parametric equations
so I could translate horizontally. Two trig identities established the proof.
A year later, I gave this to Sara, a junior in one of my precalculus classes. Heres her proof.

1
cos by r and transform to Cartesian coordinates using, x r cos
2
2
2
2
, y r sin , and x y r .
Multiply both sides of r

1
cos
2
1
r 2 r r cos
2
1 2
x2 y2
x y2 x
2
r

2 x2 y2 x

x2 y2

Then she used her CAS to translate the curve left and convert the resulting polynomial back into
polar.

.
3

Clearly r was not 0, so cos 4r 3r . But this supposedly is the graph of r cos
3

3cos , she would have it!
3
3

If Sara could show cos 4r 3r 4cos

3

So, she solved the trig identity she had discovered.

QED
Published:
Original blog post:
https://casmusings.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/trig-identities-with-a-purpose/
Post describing Saras enhancement:
https://casmusings.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/a-students-powerful-polar-exploration/

HIDDEN CONIC BEHAVIOR

It is reasonably easy to visualize the four conic sections when looking at a cone.
Cut parallel to the base and you get a circle.
Cut not parallel to the base, but still all the way through the cone and you get an ellipsea
stretched circle.
Cut parallel to any edge of the cone and you get a parabola. Notice that the far corner of the
last ellipse has slipped off the far bottom of the cone. A parabola is a stretched ellipse.
Continue to tilt your cut so that you are now cutting through the base, but not parallel to an
edge. If your cone was double-napped, youd intersect the double-napped cone twice, creating
a hyperbola.
Thats lovely, but why cant we see the same transition algebraically?
The generic equation for a conic section is Ax2 Bxy Cy 2 Dx Ey F 0 , where A, B, C, D, E, F are
real numbers.
Explore Ax Cy Dx Ey F 0
2

Nspire CAS file: Hidden Conic Behavior

Follow prompts in .tns file for deeper explorations

For horizontal conics, when you vary E, what is the behavior of the foci? Why???

PROOF: Focus on horizontal conic sections, so B 0 , leaving

Ax2 Cy 2 Dx Ey F 0 .
To find the foci, manipulate this general form into standard form. Completing the square,
2
2

2 E
D
D2
E2
D
E

A x 2 x

C
y

2
2

A
2
A
C
2
C
4
A
4
C

2
D
Let S = F 2 A to clean up.
4A
2
2
D
E

E2
x

2
2A
2C

4
C

=
C
A
AC
D E
Therefore, the center of the conic section is xc , yc
,
. Rewriting some more gives
2 A 2C

( x xc ) 2 ( y yc ) 2 S Cyc2

=
C
A
AC
2
2
x xc
y yc
(1)

=1
2
S Cy c
S Cy c2
A
C
(1) could either be an ellipse or a hyperbola, depending on the signs of A and C. If A and C are the same
sign, then (1) is an ellipse. Else, (1) is a hyperbola.
Now to find the foci, x f , y f , of the horizontal conic sections:
Ellipse: Let a be the length of the semi-major axis and b be the length of the semi-minor axis. In an
ellipse, the foci are along the major axis and are a 2 b 2 away from the center.
S Cyc2
S Cyc2
From (1), a 2
and b 2
, making the distance between each focus and the center
A
C
S Cyc2 S Cyc2
a 2 b2

(2)
A
C
Hyperbola: The foci are still on the major axis but are now a 2 b 2 away from the center. So,
S Cyc2
S Cyc2
is the same, but now b2
, and the focus-center distance is
a2
A
C
S Cyc2 S Cyc2
a 2 b2

.
A
C
This is the same expression as the elliptical case, so for both the ellipse and hyperbola, the foci are the
same distance away from the center. This means the locus of the foci, the general locus equation, is
the same for both curves.
Taking the Locus
Whether (1) is an ellipse or a hyperbola, (2) locates the foci on the major axis in relation to the center:

S Cyc2 S Cyc2
x f , y f xc A C , yc

Varying E provides the desired locus. To eliminate the parameter E, substitute y f for yc as E is only
present in yc . This gives a graphable equation in terms of x f and y f . Remember that x f and y f are
not constants; they are variables.
Substitute and manipulate to get to standard form.

x f xc

xc
2

A
S Cy CAC
2
f

C C A 2 S C A
yf
AC
AC

xc

y 2f

1
C A S S
C
AC
This general equation is the locus of the foci for both horizontal ellipses and hyperbolas.
What remains to be proven is that
1) this is the equation of an ellipse if the original equation was a hyperbola, and
2) this is the equation of a hyperbola if the original equation was an ellipse.
f

(3)

S
is
C
CA
present in both denominators, its sign does not matter. The proof focuses only on the sign of
.
A

These properties shall be shown by analyzing the denominators of the two main fractions. Since

Original Equation was Ellipse:

S Cyc2
If (1) is a horizontal ellipse, A and C have the same sign, and a b . Since a
and
A
S Cyc2
CA
, C A . Thus, C A , C, A all have the same sign, making
positive. Therefore,
b2
C
A
S
both denominators will have the same sign of
, making (3) a hyperbola.
C
2

Original Equation was Hyperbola:

If (1) is a hyperbola, A and C have different signs. If C 0 , then A 0 , and C A 0 . Likewise, if
CA
C 0 , then A 0 , and C A 0 . Either way,
0 and both denominators have the same sign
A
S
of
, making (3) an ellipse. QED.
C
Published:
Harrow, Chris, and Lillian Chin. "Technology-Enhanced Discovery." Mathematics Teacher, May, 2014,
660-65.
Link to NCTM article: http://bit.ly/Conics

OTHER POSTS OF POSSIBLE INTEREST

An interesting student answer to a test question asking for a system of quadratic equations
whose solution is (1,1).
https://casmusings.wordpress.com/2015/07/06/student-quadratic-creativity/

You know 3 non-collinear points define a parabola, but most of us think of this only in the
vertical, Cartesian sense. Actually, the same 3 points also define a horizontal parabola. But
why stop there?
https://casmusings.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/rotating-parabolas/