Dictionary
pa•rab•o•la
Pronunciation: (pu-rab'u-lu), [key]—
n. Geom.
a plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone with a plane parallel to a generator of the cone; the set of points in a plane that are equidistant from a fixed line and a fixed point in the same plane or in a parallel plane. Equation:
y 2 = 2
px or
x2 = 2
py. See diag. under
conic section. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.