Math Mondays: Analytic Geometry in PreCalculus

Analytic geometry (a.k.a. conic sections) used to be my least favorite unit to teach. The formulas are dry and easy to mix up, it's hard to find real world applications where my students might need these equations (or how to find the directrix, vertex, etc.), and they almost seem like a side topic from all the other work we have been doing in PreCalculus. When I find a topic dull, I take it as a personal challenge to make it interesting to my students. Over the past two years, I have fallen in love with conic sections. Here's what I do to keep it interesting: