Algebraic Equation

An algebraic equation, or polynomial equation, is an equation of the form P equal to zero where P is a polynomial, usually with rational coefficients, such as x to the fifth minus three x plus one equal to zero. Many authors reserve the term for the univariate case, a polynomial equation in a single variable, and use polynomial equation instead when several variables are involved. Equations of degree one, two, three or four can always be solved algebraically, but for degree five and higher only some equations admit such a solution, which is why extensive research has instead gone into algorithms that compute accurate approximations of their real or complex solutions. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/