The standard form

Every quadratic equation can be reduced, by bringing all the terms to the left-hand side, to a standard form in which a second-degree term, a first-degree term and a constant term appear.

Definition — Standard form

A quadratic equation in standard form is: $ax^2 + bx + c = 0, \qquad a\neq 0.$

The condition $a\neq 0$ is essential: if $a=0$ the equation would be of first degree. The numbers $a$, $b$ and $c$ are called coefficients: $a$ is the second-degree coefficient, $b$ the first-degree one and $c$ the constant term.

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Topics: Quadratic equations
Concepts: Quadratic equation · Standard form