Every jet of water is a parabola. With no air to fight it, a droplet keeps its sideways speed forever while gravity pulls it steadily down — and that combination bends the path into the same curve you graph in algebra.
Written in vertex form, y = a(x − h)² + k, the arc tells its own story: (h, k) is the apex, the one place the water pauses at the top. Raise the pressure and k climbs; add sideways push and the apex slides right to a new h.
The coefficient a is width. More horizontal speed means a shrinks toward zero and the arch spreads into a wide, lazy span; choke it and a grows, pinching the arc into a tight spout.
This is exactly how the fountains at the Bellagio, or a garden sprinkler, are aimed — every turn of a valve is a decision about a, h, and k.
Something in the simulation stopped unexpectedly — the lesson continues without it. Nothing you did was wrong; you can move on.