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:
“It is true that genius takes its rise out of the mountains of rectitude; that all beauty and power which men covet are somehow born out of that Alpine district; that any extraordinary degree of beauty in man or woman involves a moral charm.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I began to realize that it was bigotry of the worst kind to say that it’s better to be dead than to be born retarded or blind or without a limb. It’s a value judgment you’re making about someone’s life, based on their degree of perfection.”
—Juli Loesch (b. c. 1953)
“There are no ninety degree angles in the Garden of Delight.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)