A:

If we plug in 1 for a, and h and k are both 0,

we see a very normal y=x^2 parabola. This is
because if h is 0, the a=1 distributes to the x
and the h, thus causing the entire right side of
your equation to be x^2. If we look at this on
desmos, this is what we get.

The vertex is (0,0), and the y and x intercepts

are both 0. If we change the value of a to 2,
this is what happens.
The vertex is unchanged, but the parabola
itself got thinner. We can really see this if we
plug in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 for a.

The parabola gets progressively thinner. That

said, is a is a fraction, the graph gets wider.
This graph has 1, , and plugged in for a.

This allows us to conclude that the value of a

directly affects the spread of a parabola; the
smaller it is, the wider the parabola, and the
larger the value, the thinner the graph will
appear.

However, if a is negative, the entire graph

flips upside down and become a big fat
frowny face (or a big skinny frowny face if you
a is below -1) This graph shows a values of
1, -1, and -3.
As you can see, the a value can not change
the vertex, but can change the direction a
parabola faces and how wide/ skinny it
appears.

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H:

H affects the horizontal value of the vertex of

a parabola. The higher the h value, the farther
to the left the vertex will shift. This graph
shows y=(x-h)^2, where h is 1, 2, 5, and 10.

The same goes for negative values; if h is

negative [Ex. y=(x+5)^2] the vertex will shift to
the left. This graph shows h with a value of -1,
-2, and -5.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

K:

K is very similar to H, only it affects the

vertical coordinate of the vertex rather than
the horizontal. If we plug in 1, 2, 5, -1, -2, and
-5 in the equation y=x^2+k, this is what we
get.

As you can see, the vertex moves up and

down, while the horizontal coordinate and the
spread of the parabola are unchanged.

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In conclusion, if we plug in a certain number for h and k, we can directly influence the x and y
coordinates of the vertex. By changing a to be a large number, a fraction, or a negative number,
we can change the spread and the direction of the entire parabola. This gives us the power to
create any parabola humanly imaginable by only changing three variables.