Coefficient

In mathematics, a coefficient is a constant multiplicative factor of a specified object. The object can be a variable, a vector, a function, or anything else that might be subject to multiplication.

For example, the coefficient of in the expression is 5. Note that it is important that we specify what we are looking at the coefficients of: 5 also has a coefficient in , namely .

Coefficients come up most frequently in a discussion of polynomials.

Leading Coefficient

The leading coefficient is the coefficient of the highest degree in a polynomial. It is used to write the polynomial in standard form, and is especially used to factor quadratics.

See Also

• Linear algebra
• Binomial coefficients
• Binomial theorem

This article is a stub. Help us out by expanding it.