F0r The l_0ve of...... (1 Viewer)

[Shady01]

OK some my think im dumb(cant win em all) but ever since 2U maths that long lonesome day long ago. (not making gramatical sense) I have been unable to come to grips with the fact and appilance of Locus. I know that if I dont grasp this concept I wont get the marks i need in 3 and 4U maths. I can understand and easily apply other maths but this stuff justs appsoltyl baffles me. :mad1:
If somone could take a few seconds and talk to me as if I were a child and explain what Locus achieves, from your point of view.

 

[ianc]

Yeah, the locus topic is just thinking about functions and graphs differently to what you would have before.

You mentioned 4u maths - you HAVE to be good at these; otherwise you'll never manage conics.

If you're having trouble, then all i can suggest is practice...

If you need to find the locus of a point, its good to remember these:
- distance formula
- midpoint formula
- ratios (3 unit)
- maybe even perpendicular distance formula (3 unit)
What you usually do is substitute values into these formulas

If you're doing locus problems:
- remember all the formulas and how to derive them
- most of the time your first instinct is correct; ie try not to overthink the question

Hope this is constructive...

 

[Jono_2007]

Basically Locus is a set of points which obey a particular condition.
For example:
the locus of a circle center (h,k), is defined by the equation (x-h)^2+(y-k)^2=r^2
Damm wasn't the first

 

[pLuvia]

And also in the Complex Numbers topic you encounter locus i.e |z|=1, arg (z-1/z+1)=pi/2 etc

 

[Shady01]

yeah Pluvia i can do those, their easy, conics I can find tangents, normals, foci, asymptohes all that, unknown angles but as soon as we hit a Locus problem I'm stuffed. I know I gotta practise but its a really tough concept for me to rap my mind around.