Computation Layer Monthly

As much as we love sharing techniques, strategies, and opinions with you, nothing beats a good old-fashioned feature release. This month, we’ll share a little bit about a brand new toy to represent and parse conic sections: a conic type!

This tool looks at a string, and if that string can be defined as a quadratic, then it allows you to parse out all sorts of information (like a coefficient matrix!). It also has supports for vertical and horizontal parabolas with room to expand in the future.

So how does this help you?

Have you ever asked students to enter the equation of a parabola and wished those intercepts you clicked on could be captured? Or wished you could use the coordinates of intersection?

You’re not alone:

Having those values at your fingertips and not being able to use them can be so frustrating 😩. The conic type solves those problems for you.

Start by defining a conic using some student input (just like you would with xyLine).

Ask CL to look for the x-intercepts of the graph.

The x-intercepts are given as a list that you can use in a graph or for calculations.

Looking for intersections? Start by subtracting one function from the other. Then find the x-intercepts of that new function!

There’s so much more that can be done with this new tool, and we’d love to see how you put it to use. So for this month’s #matchMyCL, we challenge you to try an exercise that the Desmos CL team uses to learn about new features:

1. Take a look at the Computation Layer Documentation to learn more about the conic and parabola types.
2. Copy and edit a sample screen or start with your own idea.
3. Make something that either uses the conic type or helps you understand the conic type better. 
4. Share your screen along with a brief description about what it helped you complete or learn, and add the hashtag #matchMyCL so that we can all learn together.

This Month's Challenge:

Create something using the new conic tool.

Previous Emails

April, 2022: Live Builds and Mirrored Sketches
March, 2022: Ask the CL Team
February, 2022: A Better Way To Interpret Sketches
January, 2022: Cool Stuff (You Might Have Missed) in 2021

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