High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In mathematics, a polynomial is an expression of finite length constructed from variables (also known as indeterminates) and constants, using only the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and non-negative, whole-number exponents. For example, x2 ¿ 4x + 7 is a polynomial, but x2 ¿ 4/x + 7x3/2 is not, because its second term involves division by the variable x and because its third term contains an exponent that is not a whole number. Polynomials appear in a wide variety of areas of mathematics and science. For example, they are used to form polynomial equations, which encode a wide range of problems, from elementary word problems to complicated problems in the sciences; they are used to define polynomial functions, which appear in settings ranging from basic chemistry and physics to economics and social science; they are used in calculus and numerical analysis to approximate other functions. In advanced mathematics, polynomials are used to construct polynomial rings, a central concept in abstract algebra and algebraic geometry.