Coefficients, Quadratics, and Exponents, Oh My!

COW #8

What does Quadratic mean?

Powers have two parts; a base and an exponent. There are different ways of "saying" powers that you might hear:

* the fifth power of three
* three raised to the fifth power
* three to the power of five, or just
* three to the fifth
More on this... 
What is a term?

Terms

A term can be any of the following:

• a constant: e.g. 3, 10, π,
• the product of a number (coefficient) and a variable: e.g. –3x, 11y,
• the product of two or more variables: e.g. x², xy, 2y², 7xy

Like terms are terms that differ only in their numerical coefficients. For example: 3a, 22a, are like terms.

Intro to Basic Algebra Terms
What is a coefficient?

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A coefficient is a number in front of a variable. For example, in the expression x²-10x+25, the coefficient of the x² is 1 and the coefficient of the x is -10. The third term, 25, is called a constant.
If the expression were -x²+10x+25, the coefficient of the x² would be -1, and the coefficient of the x would be 10.

Identifying the Coefficient in a Polynomial

Learn How to identify the numerical coefficient of a monomial. For more Math How-To Videos & Articles, visit WonderHowTo.

What is cross correlation?
cross correlation—The correlation between time series x(t) and y(t), where x and y may represent the same variable measured at different locations, or a single variable measured at one location but at different times, as for the case in which y(t) represents x(t + L), where L is a specified time lag.
In such cases, the two variables are usually not statistically independent, and large cross correlations between x and y can result.
How could this apply to matrix problems?

Graphing Quadratic Equations