Degree
When using the term "quadratic polynomial", authors sometimes mean "having degree exactly 2", and sometimes "having degree at most 2". If the degree is less than 2, this may be called a "degenerate case". Usually the context will establish which of the two is meant.
Sometimes the word "order" is used with the meaning of "degree", e.g. a second-order polynomial.
Read more about this topic: Quadratic Polynomial
Famous quotes containing the word degree:
“A certain degree of miserey [sic] seems inseparable from a high degree of populousness.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“Maybe men are separated from each other only by the degree of their misery.”
—Francis Picabia (1878–1953)
“And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another...”
—Bible: New Testament, 2 Corinthians 3:18.