Finding equations of conics not in standard position

abc
January 29, 2018

Problem 1.00. Find the equation of the parabola with directrix d given by equation y = −x
and focus F with coordinates (1, 1).

Let P be any point on the parabola with coordinates (X, Y ). Then P d = P F . Finding
P F is straightforward. However, finding P d requires a little more work.

First, we need an equation of the line perpendicular to d going through point P . Multi-
plying gradients of perpendicular lines should give −1. Therefore the line g has gradient 1.
So the equation of g is
y = x + b, (1)
where b is yet undetermined constant. To determine b, we plug in the values of X and Y
into equation (1) obtaining Y = X + b and so b = Y − X. Thus the equation of line g is

y = x + (Y − X). (2)

To find coordinates of point C, we solve simultaneously the equations y = −x and

y = x + (Y − X). To do so we equate the right hand sides of both equations getting
−x = x + (Y − X). Solving this for x we get x = X−Y
2
. And since y = −x, y = Y −X
2
.

1
 So the coordinates of C are
X −Y Y −X
C=( , ).
2 2
Next, we continue the usual way writing down the distance formula for Pd and PF. We
get, after simplification,
(X + Y )2
(X − 1)2 + (Y − 1)2 =
2
This is the equation of the parabola.

This method can be modified to obtain equations of other parabolas not in standard
position.