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Geometrically, the discriminant of a quadratic form in three variables is the equation of a quadratic projective curve. The discriminant is zero if and only if the curve is decomposed in lines (possibly over an algebraically closed extension of the field). A quadratic form in four variables is the equation of a projective surface.
Figure 1. Plots of quadratic function y = ax 2 + bx + c, varying each coefficient separately while the other coefficients are fixed (at values a = 1, b = 0, c = 0). A quadratic equation whose coefficients are real numbers can have either zero, one, or two distinct real-valued solutions, also called roots.
A univariate quadratic function can be expressed in three formats: [2] = + + is called the standard form, = () is called the factored form, where r 1 and r 2 are the roots of the quadratic function and the solutions of the corresponding quadratic equation.
This can be done by letting the discriminant of the quadratic function become zero. To explain this, first expand a perfect square so that it equals a quadratic function: ( s u + t ) 2 = ( s 2 ) u 2 + ( 2 s t ) u + ( t 2 ) . {\displaystyle \left(su+t\right)^{2}=\left(s^{2}\right)u^{2}+\left(2st\right)u+\left(t^{2}\right).\,}
The roots of the quadratic function y = 1 / 2 x 2 − 3x + 5 / 2 are the places where the graph intersects the x-axis, the values x = 1 and x = 5. They can be found via the quadratic formula. In elementary algebra, the quadratic formula is a closed-form expression describing the solutions of a quadratic equation.
The discriminant of a quadratic form, concretely the class of the determinant of a representing matrix in K / (K ×) 2 (up to non-zero squares) can also be defined, and for a real quadratic form is a cruder invariant than signature, taking values of only "positive, zero, or negative".
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Due to its appearance in this volume, the discriminant also appears in the functional equation of the Dedekind zeta function of K, and hence in the analytic class number formula, and the Brauer–Siegel theorem. The relative discriminant of K/L is the Artin conductor of the regular representation of the Galois group of K/L.
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