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In mathematics, a cubic function is a function of the form () = + + +, that is, a polynomial function of degree three. In many texts, the coefficients a , b , c , and d are supposed to be real numbers , and the function is considered as a real function that maps real numbers to real numbers or as a complex function that maps complex numbers to ...
The solutions of this equation are called roots of the cubic function defined by the left-hand side of the equation. If all of the coefficients a, b, c, and d of the cubic equation are real numbers, then it has at least one real root (this is true for all odd-degree polynomial functions). All of the roots of the cubic equation can be found by ...
Constant function: polynomial of degree zero, graph is a horizontal straight line; Linear function: First degree polynomial, graph is a straight line. Quadratic function: Second degree polynomial, graph is a parabola. Cubic function: Third degree polynomial. Quartic function: Fourth degree polynomial. Quintic function: Fifth degree polynomial.
For example, a quadratic for the numerator and a cubic for the denominator is identified as a quadratic/cubic rational function. The rational function model is a generalization of the polynomial model: rational function models contain polynomial models as a subset (i.e., the case when the denominator is a constant).
According to the definition of polynomial functions, there may be expressions that obviously are not polynomials but nevertheless define polynomial functions. An example is the expression (), which takes the same values as the polynomial on the interval [,], and thus both expressions define the same polynomial function on this interval.
For polynomials in two or more variables, the degree of a term is the sum of the exponents of the variables in the term; the degree (sometimes called the total degree) of the polynomial is again the maximum of the degrees of all terms in the polynomial. For example, the polynomial x 2 y 2 + 3x 3 + 4y has degree 4, the same degree as the term x ...
Cubic polynomial splines are extensively used in computer graphics and geometric modeling to obtain curves or motion trajectories that pass through specified points of the plane or three-dimensional space. In these applications, each coordinate of the plane or space is separately interpolated by a cubic spline function of a separate parameter t.
The Darboux cubic is the locus of a point X such that X* is on the line LX, where L is the de Longchamps point. Also, this cubic is the locus of X such that the pedal triangle of X is the cevian triangle of some point (which lies on the Lucas cubic).