In mathematics, and particularly in formal algebra, an indeterminate is a symbol that is treated as a variable, but does not stand for anything else but itself and is used as a placeholder in objects such as polynomials and formal power series. In particular it does not designate a constant or a parameter of the problem, it is not an unknown that could be solved for, and it is not a variable designating a function argument or being summed or integrated over; it is not any type of bound variable.