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Indeterminate form is a mathematical expression that can obtain any value depending on circumstances. In calculus, it is usually possible to compute the limit of the sum, difference, product, quotient or power of two functions by taking the corresponding combination of the separate limits of each respective function.
In mathematics, particularly in algebra, an indeterminate equation is an equation for which there is more than one solution. [1] For example, the equation a x + b y = c {\displaystyle ax+by=c} is a simple indeterminate equation, as is x 2 = 1 {\displaystyle x^{2}=1} .
Here is a basic example involving the exponential function, which involves the indeterminate form 0 / 0 at x = 0: + = (+) = + = This is a more elaborate example involving 0 / 0 . Applying L'Hôpital's rule a single time still results in an indeterminate form.
Consider a linear non-homogeneous ordinary differential equation of the form = + (+) = where () denotes the i-th derivative of , and denotes a function of .. The method of undetermined coefficients provides a straightforward method of obtaining the solution to this ODE when two criteria are met: [2]
For example: is a term. The coefficient is −5, the indeterminates are x and y, the degree of x is two, while the degree of y is one. The degree of the entire term is the sum of the degrees of each indeterminate in it, so in this example the degree is 2 + 1 = 3. Forming a sum of several terms produces a polynomial.
A (real) polynomial is an expression of the form a 0 x 0 + ⋅⋅⋅ + a n x n, where x is an indeterminate, and the coefficients a i are real numbers. Polynomials are added termwise, and multiplied by applying the distributive law and the usual rules for exponents. With these operations, polynomials form a ring R[x].
For example, the imaginary number is undefined within the set of real numbers. So it is meaningless to reason about the value, solely within the discourse of real numbers. However, defining the imaginary number i {\displaystyle i} to be equal to − 1 {\displaystyle {\sqrt {-1}}} , allows there to be a consistent set of mathematics referred to ...
A fundamental property of an indeterminate is that it can be substituted with any mathematical expressions to which the same operations apply as the operations applied to the indeterminate. Some authors of abstract algebra textbooks define an indeterminate over a ring R as an element of a larger ring that is transcendental over R.