1. mathematics An arithmetic expression composed by summing
multiples of powers of some variable.
P(x) = sum a_i x^i for i = 0 .. N
The multipliers, a_i, are known as "
coefficients" and N, the
highest power of x with a non-zero coefficient, is known as
the "degree" of the polynomial. If N=0 then P(x) is constant,
if N=1, P(x) is linear in x. N=2 gives a "
quadratic" and
N=3, a "cubic".