Editing Polynomial (section)

== History ==
{{Main|Cubic function#History|Quartic function#History|Abel–Ruffini theorem#History}}
Determining the roots of polynomials, or "solving algebraic equations", is among the oldest problems in mathematics. However, the elegant and practical notation we use today only developed beginning in the 15th century. Before that, equations were written out in words. For example, an algebra problem from the Chinese [[The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art|Arithmetic in Nine Sections]], {{circa|200&nbsp;BCE}}, begins "Three sheafs of good crop, two sheafs of mediocre crop, and one sheaf of bad crop are sold for 29 dou." We would write {{math|3''x'' + 2''y'' + ''z'' {{=}} 29}}.

=== History of the notation ===
{{Main|History of mathematical notation}}
The earliest known use of the equal sign is in [[Robert Recorde]]'s ''[[The Whetstone of Witte]]'', 1557. The signs + for addition, − for subtraction, and the use of a letter for an unknown appear in [[Michael Stifel]]'s ''Arithemetica integra'', 1544. [[René Descartes]], in ''La géometrie'', 1637, introduced the concept of the graph of a polynomial equation. He popularized the use of letters from the beginning of the alphabet to denote constants and letters from the end of the alphabet to denote variables, as can be seen above, in the general formula for a polynomial in one variable, where the {{math|''a''}}s denote constants and {{math|''x''}} denotes a variable. Descartes introduced the use of superscripts to denote exponents as well.<ref>{{cite book |first=Howard |last=Eves |title=An Introduction to the History of Mathematics |publisher=Saunders |year= 1990|isbn=0-03-029558-0 |edition=6th}}</ref>