How to calculate the vertex of a parabola given three points

Question

I have three X/Y points that form a parabola. I simply need to calculate what the vertex of the parabola is that goes through these three points. Preferably a quick way as I

Answer 1

Running at https://ideone.com/y0SxKU

#include 
using namespace std;
// calculate the vertex of a parabola given three points
// https://stackoverflow.com/q/717762/16582

// @AZDean implementation with given x values

void CalcParabolaVertex(int x1, int y1, int x2, int y2, int x3, int y3, double& xv,  double& yv)
{
    double denom = (x1 - x2) * (x1 - x3) * (x2 - x3);
    double A     = (x3 * (y2 - y1) + x2 * (y1 - y3) + x1 * (y3 - y2)) / denom;
    double B     = (x3*x3 * (y1 - y2) + x2*x2 * (y3 - y1) + x1*x1 * (y2 - y3)) / denom;
    double C     = (x2 * x3 * (x2 - x3) * y1 + x3 * x1 * (x3 - x1) * y2 + x1 * x2 * (x1 - x2) * y3) / denom;

    xv = -B / (2*A);
    yv = C - B*B / (4*A);
}

// @piSHOCK immplementation assuming regular x values ( wrong!!! )

void CalcParabolaVertex2( int y1, int y2, int y3, double& xv,  double& yv)
{
double d1 = y1 - y2;
double d2 = y1 - y3;

double a =    -d1 + 0.5 * d2;
double b = 2 * d1 - 0.5 * d2;
double c = -y1;

xv =    -0.5      * b / a;
yv = c - 0.25 * b * b / a;  
}

// corrected immplementation assuming regular x values

void CalcParabolaVertex3( int y1, int y2, int y3, double& xv,  double& yv)
{
double d1 = y1 - y2;
double d2 = y1 - y3;

double a = d1 - 0.5 * d2;
double b = -2 * d1 + 0.5 * d2;
double c = y1;

xv =    -0.5      * b / a;
yv = c - 0.25 * b * b / a;  
}


int main() {
    double xv, yv;
    CalcParabolaVertex( 0, 100, 1, 500, 2, 200, xv, yv );
    cout << xv <<" "<< yv << "\n";
    CalcParabolaVertex2( 100, 500, 200, xv, yv );
    cout << xv <<" "<< yv << "\n";
    CalcParabolaVertex3( 100, 500, 200, xv, yv );
    cout << xv <<" "<< yv << "\n";
    return 0;
}

I have added a couple of unit tests for negative going peaks: running live at https://ideone.com/WGK90S