Quadratic Functions...?

Question

How does one put y= -x^2+4 into y= a(x-h)^2+k form?

How does the negative sign change things in the formula? I keep ending up with y= -(x-2)^2-3 but apparantly it's different.

Answer 1

It looks like you're making this way too hard. It's just
y = -1(x - 0)^2 + 4 (the 1 and 0 don't really have to be there). The negative means the parabola will open downward. The 0 means the vertex is right on the y-axis.