If the value of a is 8 in F(x)=ax^2 What does the graph look like

The graph would be more compressed looking, rather than open/stretched.

So a general understanding of what ax^2 can help tremendously with these types of questions. From what I’ve learned in school, this is simply a translation from the original equation. The original equation would be considered the base for of this equation without ANY transformations.

The original equation in this case would be y=ax^2. When you only have this equation, it should be a simple parabola that goes up to 1 then 4 then 16... etc. When the a value is changed though, it changes according to our square values (notice how the original equation is only going by squares) so instead of starts at 1, we are starting at 8 because 1^2 is 1 then MULTIPLIED by 8 would be 8. I’ll use Desmos to explain.

From the graph, it shows how much more squished together because of how high each number goes up due to the multiplier value of a (or 8 in this case).