Geometric proof that the product of the $x$-intercepts equals the $y$-intercept for a monic quadratic

conic sectionsproof-without-wordsquadratics

I know you can prove that the product of the roots of the monic quadratic $x^2+a_1x+a_0$ equals the $y$-intercept $a_0$ by comparing its coefficients to the coefficients of $(x-m)(x-c)$ where $m$ and $c$ are the roots. So $a_0 = mc$. This is how Vieta's formulas are derived.

However, I was wondering if there was a geometric proof of why this is true.

I drew the diagram below:
enter image description here

In the diagram the roots are $(m, 0)$ and $(c, 0)$ while the y-intercept is $(0, b)$. I also drew the point directly above the vertex of the parabola (the midpoint of the roots) and created a few triangles. I tried using Stewart's Theorem on some of the triangles but couldn't seem to get the desired result that $b = mc$.

Can anyone provide some insight on how to prove this fact geometrically? Would I need to also draw the focus and directrix and do some geometry using those?

Best Answer

Thanks to @Blue for showing me his old answer here which essentially answers my question. The property used from his answer (which is proved in his answer) is as follows:

Property 1. If $P$ is a point on a vertical opening parabola, then the point's horizontal displacement from the vertex is the geometric mean of the parabola's latus rectum and the point's vertical distance from the vertex.

Now here is a diagram from one of @Blue 's answers:

enter image description here

By Property 1. $|KV|^2 = |AK||KC|$ and $|VS|^2 = |AK||KO|$.

So $|KV|^2-|VS|^2 = |AK|(|KC|-|KO|) = |AK||OC|$.

Thus, $(|KV|-|VS|)(|KV|+|VS|) = |AK||OC|$.

But $|KV|-|VS| = OR_{-}$ and $|KV|+|VS| = OR_{+}$.

Which means that $|OR_{-}||OR_{+}| = |AK||OC|$.

For a monic quadratic, $|AK| = 1$ So we get that $|OR_{-}||OR_{+}| = |OC| = c$ as desired.

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