<PRE><B>Question 189698</B>
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Let&#39;s look at your entire question from the point of view of one example:


Example:


*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  y = ax^2 + bx + c]


The parts of the example:


*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  ax^2]


*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  bx]


*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  c]


are all &lt;i&gt;terms&lt;/i&gt;


Terms are composed of &lt;i&gt;factors&lt;/i&gt;


The &lt;i&gt;factors&lt;/i&gt; of the *[tex \LARGE ax^2] term are &lt;i&gt;a&lt;/i&gt; and *[tex \LARGE x^2] which is just *[tex \LARGE x\,\cdot\,x] which has factors &lt;i&gt;x&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;x&lt;/i&gt;.


The &lt;i&gt;factors&lt;/i&gt; of the *[tex \LARGE bx] term are &lt;i&gt;b&lt;/i&gt; and *[tex \LARGE x^1], which is simply &lt;i&gt;x&lt;/i&gt;.


The &lt;i&gt;factors&lt;/i&gt; of the *[tex \LARGE c] term are &lt;i&gt;c&lt;/i&gt; and *[tex \LARGE x^0] which is equal to 1 no matter what the value of &lt;i&gt;x&lt;/i&gt; is.


&lt;i&gt;a&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;b&lt;/i&gt;, and &lt;i&gt;c&lt;/i&gt; are also called coefficients.  In the example, &lt;i&gt;a&lt;/i&gt; is called the lead or high-order coefficient, &lt;i&gt;b&lt;/i&gt; is the first degree or linear coefficient, and &lt;i&gt;c&lt;/i&gt; is the constant coefficient.


&lt;i&gt;c&lt;/i&gt; is also the constant term, whereas *[tex \LARGE ax^2] is the 2nd degree or high-order term, and *[tex \LARGE bx] is the 1st degree term.


So, if you had:



*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  y = 3x^3 - 2x^2 + 15]


You could also write this as:


*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  y = 3x^3 - 2x^2 +0x^1 + 15x^0]


Now:


The four terms are:


*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  3x^3]
*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  - 2x^2]
*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  0x^1 = 0]
*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  15x^0 = 15]


The factors of the high-order (3rd degree) term are 3 and *[tex \LARGE x^3] and the coefficient is 3


The factors of the 2nd degree term are -2 and *[tex \LARGE x^2] and the coefficient is -2


The factors of the 1st degree term are 0 and *[tex \LARGE x^1 = x] and the coefficient is 0


The factors of the constant term are 15 and *[tex \LARGE x^0 = 1] and the coefficient and the constant are 15.


In all of this &lt;i&gt;x&lt;/i&gt; is a variable, specifically the &lt;i&gt;independent&lt;/i&gt; variable.  That means you put in values for &lt;i&gt;x&lt;/i&gt; and let &lt;i&gt;y&lt;/i&gt; happen.  As you might expect, &lt;i&gt;y&lt;/i&gt; is the &lt;i&gt;dependent&lt;/i&gt; variable because the value of &lt;i&gt;y&lt;/i&gt; is dependent upon the value of &lt;i&gt;x&lt;/i&gt;.


John
*[tex \LARGE e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0]
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