The general form of a quadratic polynomial is $latex ax^2 + bx + c $. It is a polynomial of order 2. This means that the highest power of [pmath]x[/pmath] is 2.
When the quadratic polynomial is set equal to 0 you get a quadratic equation: [pmath]ax^2 + bx + c = 0[/pmath]. There are three ways to solve this form of equation algebraically:
- Factorisation
- Completing the square
- Quadratic formula
These are discussed separately on the following pages.
