Hi, my name is Jana. I am a freshman student. Here is my question. I kept getting the same short answer but I must have a full explanation. Why do we use the word quadratic to describe second degree equations?

Hi Jana,

Paula asked us this question a while ago and there is an answer in our database. Anather place you should lok is at Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics. This is a great site for the history of mathematical terms.

Cheers,
Penny
Go to Math Central