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This is a pretty basic question, but I have never thought about polynomials in this way before. I want to compare different polynomials of the form C0 + C1x + C2x^2 that I have generated from raw data. I am not a mathematician by degree, so I have never had to explain the theory behind a polynomial before. As an example, if only 1 of 5 polynomial equations I have generated has a negative value for c1 (the raw data are of the same type but from 5 different sources), how could I explain this? Is C1 more heavily affected by the mean of all of the data, or does the total range affect it more etc. I want a way to explain what each term (C0, C1, C2) is most affected by. Thank you.

JasonMArcher
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user1871337
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1 Answers1

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I've also never thought about polynomials in this way before. There might be better explanations for specific formulas. But I dont think, there is a general explanation. Might this help?

f(x) = C0 + C1*x + C2*x*x

  • C0: The constant term. f(0) = C0
  • C1: The linear term. f(x) is approximatly C0+C1*x for small x
  • C2: The quadratic term. f(x) is approximatly C2*x*x for large x
Peter Schneider
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