PARODICAL DEGREES

PARODICAL DEGREES, in an equation, a term sometimes used to denote the several regular terms in a quadratic, cubic, biquadratic, &c. equation, when the indices of the powers ascend or descend orderly in an arithmetical progression. Thus, $x^3\; +\; mx^2\; +\; nx\; +\; p$ is a cubic equation where no term is wanting, but having all its parabolic degrees; the indices of the terms regularly descending thus, 3, 2, 1, 0.