Before we go any further, I should probably warn you about my philosophy  on graphing:
 

PLOTTING POINTS IS FOR SISSIES!

That's right.  I said it.  The official definition of a "sissy" is a weak or feeble person...  and, if you try to graph something like a parabola by making one of those pathetic x-y charts

an x-y chart

and making guesses... then you are a big sissy!  Real geeks graph with their brains because they know what they're doing.  It takes a heck of a lot less time and it's more accurate.  I once saw a Calculus teacher draw a complete blank and try to graph a parabola by plotting points...  It got ugly fast.  Don't let this happen to you!

There is a lot of graphing in the first semester of Calculus...  A LOT!

graph of the area between a parabola and a lineYou'll be finding
areas between
two curves...

 

You'll even be
rotating things
around and
finding volumes!
Graph of a cone