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If the constant term is 0, then it will conventionally be omitted when the quadratic is written out. Any polynomial written in standard form has a unique constant term, which can be considered a coefficient of . In particular, the constant term will always be the lowest degree term of the polynomial. This also applies to multivariate polynomials.
A term with no indeterminates and a polynomial with no indeterminates are called, respectively, a constant term and a constant polynomial. [b] The degree of a constant term and of a nonzero constant polynomial is 0. The degree of the zero polynomial 0 (which has no terms at all) is generally treated as not defined (but see below).
The graph of the constant function y = c is a horizontal line in the plane that passes through the point (0, c). [2] In the context of a polynomial in one variable x, the constant function is called non-zero constant function because it is a polynomial of degree 0, and its general form is f(x) = c, where c is nonzero.
A coefficient is a constant coefficient when it is a constant function. For avoiding confusion, in this context a coefficient that is not attached to unknown functions or their derivatives is generally called a constant term rather than a constant coefficient. In particular, in a linear differential equation with constant coefficient, the ...
The derivative of a constant function is zero, as noted above, and the differential operator is a linear operator, so functions that only differ by a constant term have the same derivative. To acknowledge this, a constant of integration is added to an indefinite integral ; this ensures that all possible solutions are included.
Legendre polynomials are also useful in expanding functions of the form (this is the same as before, written a little differently): + = = (), which arise naturally in multipole expansions. The left-hand side of the equation is the generating function for the Legendre polynomials.
The polynomial functions are defined by polynomials, and their domain is the whole set of real numbers. They include constant functions, linear functions and quadratic functions. Rational functions are quotients of two polynomial functions, and their domain is the real numbers with a finite number of them removed to avoid division by zero.
A constant function is also considered linear in this context, as it is a polynomial of degree zero or is the zero polynomial. Its graph, when there is only one variable, is a horizontal line. In this context, a function that is also a linear map (the other meaning) may be referred to as a homogeneous linear function or a linear form.