Equation
mathematical statement that asserts the equality of two expressions From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A mathematical equation is an expression containing two mathematical objects connected by an equals sign (=) .[1][2][3][4] The equals sign says that both sides are exactly equal, or of the same value. An equation can be as simple as , or as complex as or harder.
There are two kinds of mathematical equations:
- The kind of equation that is either true or false; these are also called identities. For example:
- The kind of equation that is only true for certain values of the variable(s). The equation is only true if the variable(s) have that value. For example:
The second kind is often used to solve problems in which finding the value of some variables is involved. For example, if
- ,
The second kind of equation is used in algebra. For example, to solve the equation for , one would follow an algebraic rule to find that .
Types of equations
Equations can be classified by the types of operations and quantities involved. For example:
- An algebraic equation is an equation in which both sides are polynomials. These are further classified by degree:
- Linear equation for degree one
- Quadratic equation for degree two
- Cubic equation for degree three
- Quartic equation for degree four
- Quintic equation for degree five
- A Diophantine equation is an equation where the unknowns are required to be integers
- A differential equation is a functional equation involving derivatives of the unknown functions, which include:
Related pages
References
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