In
mathematics, an
algebraic equation or
polynomial equation is an
equation of the form
where
P and
Q are
polynomials with coefficients in some
field, often the field of the
rational numbers. For most authors, an algebraic equation is
univariate, which means that it involves only one
variable. On the other hand, a polynomial equation may involve several variables, in which case it is called
multivariate and the term
polynomial equation is usually preferred to
algebraic equation.