Developing the concept of a parabola in Taxicab geometry

Abstract

The aim of this study was to observe the development process of the concept of a parabola in Taxicab geometry. The study was carried out in two stages. First, some activities related to Euclidean geometry and Taxicab geometry were designed based on concept development and real-life applications, and they were administered to a ninth-grade student. According to the findings, once the student learnt the definition of a parabola in Euclidean geometry, she was able to define a Taxicab parabola using the distance function in Taxicab geometry. Also, she came up with an algebraic definition of a Taxicab parabola based on this geometric definition of the concept of a parabola. Moving from algebraic definition to geometric representation, she configured the concept of a parabola in Taxicab geometry. By means of this application activity, the student had the opportunity to observe and practise the concept of a parabola in a real-life situation based on Euclidean geometry and Taxicab geometry.