Gexample 3 find the point on the parabola y2 = 4x that is closest to the point (2, 8).

  #(x,y) = (-1,1)# is the  closest point  on #y=x^2# to #(-3,0)#. explanation: the distance from any  point  #(x,y)# to a  point  #(hatx,haty)# is #color(white)("xxx")# #sqrt((x-hatx)^2+(y-haty)^2)#. forpoints  on #color(white)("xxx")4x^3+2x+6=0#. an obvious (by inspection) root is #x=-1# (and in fact there are no 

Xis equal to three