Quadratic Function

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This glossary is far from complete. We are constantly adding math terms.
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Definition

A quadratic function is any function equivalent to one of the form $$f(x) = ax^2 + bx + c\,\!$$ , where $$a \ne 0\,\!$$ . This means that b and c can equal zero. A quadratic function is often called second-grade function. In a quadratic function, the term of highest degree is the squared term.

Supplementary definitions

Quadratic function
A quadratic function, in mathematics, is a polynomial function of the form $$f(x)=ax^2+bx+c \,\!$$ , where $$a \ne 0 \,\!$$ . The graph of a function is a parabola whose major axis is parallel to the y-axis. This extract is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. It uses material from the article "Quadratic function", retrieved 1 Jan 2009.

Examples

Examples of Parabolas

$$f(x) = 5x^2 + 8x + 3\,\!$$

$$f(a) = -4a^2 + \tfrac{2}{3}a - 10\,\!$$

$$f(t) = 10t^2 - 15t \,\!$$

$$f(n) = -\sqrt{47}n^2 + 17\,\!$$

$$f(z) = 9z^2\,\!$$

Links

Web Resources

Wikibooks - Quadratic functions Wiktionary - Quadratic Function