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Dr. Math,
I thought quad means four, but your highest power is two and at most
you have three terms. I don't get it. The question I have for
you:
P. Wilson
Well, here's what I was able to find out. Jeff Miller's History of
Mathematics pages say that the word "quadratic" was first used in
English in 1668 by John Wilkins (1614-1672) in an essay towards a real
character, and a philosophical language [London: Printed for Sa.
Gellibrand, and for John Martyn, 1668]. He wrote: "Those Algebraical
notions of Absolute, Lineary, Quadratic, Cubic" (OED2). They don't say
why he chose that word, though.
We use the word quadratic because "quadra" refers to a square, and the
leading term in a quadratic equation is "squared." This is consistent
with calling a degree three polynomial a "cubic" for the leading term
represents a cube. The word for an equation with a leading term of x^4
is "quartic."
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/58332.html
Thank you. I will relay the info to my kids. That was my guess, but
I just didn't find "quadra" to mean square!