TITLE: Types of polynomial functions. Quadratic, cubic, quartic, quintic, ...,?
QUESTION [9 upvotes]: I would very much like to have a complete list of the types of polynomial functions. I know that theres:
Quadratic :                      (AX^2 + BX + C)
Cubic     :               (AX^3 + BX^2 + CX + D)
Quartic   :        (AX^4 + BX^3 + CX^2 + DX + E)
Quintic   : (AX^5 + BX^4 + CX^3 + DX^2 + EX + F)

What are the names of polynomial functions to the further powers? Sexstic? Septic? Octic? I'm not sure, so if someone could enlighten me, then that would be great. Please provide a list that goes at least to the seventh power, but it would be nice if you could go further. Thanks.

REPLY [14 votes]: While they do start getting awkward quickly, the next few ordinals are fairly well-defined, largely because of their occasional usage in solving cubic and quartic equations and in defining algebraic curves and surfaces: the Sextic, the Septic, and the Octic.  Beyond that, they just don't show up often enough to be worth explicitly naming.