Below are graphs of the equation with k = 3 and varied values for a. Since k = 3, there are 3 petals with the axis petal below the x-axis ( Review "What does k do?" if needed.). It appears that a affects the size of the rose. The length of the petals increases as the value of a increases. That is, if we were to construct a circumcircle about the rose whose center is (0,0), we can describe the length of a petal in terms of the circle's radius. In fact, the radius of the circumcircle is 2a. A negative value for a reflects the graph about the x-axis.
Go on to "A summary of r = 2a sin (kq)"
