User:MattVetter

Hello peoples, my name is Matthew Vetter. I am a 2nd year student going for a double major in econ and psych. Aside from school, music and sports are my life. I enjoy playing the guitar, piano, drums along with the occasional vocal work. I also spend far too much time recording music in the studio.

Parabolae in the physical world:

A parabola is a conic section with all points along the curve being the same distant from a set point, called the focus, which is not on the line. A parabola, in nature, is a very common thing, although they are clearly not as precise as found on paper. They occur in many situations. For example, a common occurrence of the parabola theme in nature is found in the bouncing of a ball. This applies the theory of the parabolic trajectory of projectiles, discovered by Galileo, whereby the central mass of an object will form a resemblance of a parabola. Now that is in an ideal situation, in the real world there are several factors that can attribute to the deformation of the perfect parabola path of the projectile. Another common example of a parabola can be seen in a satellite dish. The parabola servers to redirect all incoming signals to the focal point of the parabola where, in this case, the signal is picked up.