Definition:Polynomial Function/Real/Definition 1

Definition
Let $S \subset \R$ be a subset of the real numbers.

A real polynomial function on $S$ is a function $f: S \to \R$ for which there exist:


 * a natural number $n\in \N$


 * real numbers $a_0, \ldots, a_n \in \R$

such that for all $x \in S$:


 * $\map f x = \ds \sum_{k \mathop = 0}^n a_k x^k$

where $\sum$ denotes indexed summation.

Also see

 * Equivalence of Definitions of Real Polynomial Function