The city of Los Angeles wants to build a suspension bridge over Lake Casitas. The suspension
cables that are connected between the towers must have a parabolic curve. Let the y-axis
represent the axis of symmetry. The road/deck represents the directrix and sits 15 meters
above the water surface (which represents the x-axis). The vertex or minimum point of the
cable is 12 meters above the directrix. Write an equation to represent the parabolic shape of the
cables on the suspension bridge.
anchor
tower
cable
deck
foundations
hanger
approaches