rational function

American  

noun

Mathematics.

1. a function that can be written as the quotient of two polynomials with integral coefficients.

---

Etymology

Origin of rational function

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

The rational function will be represented by a quotient of polynomial functions.

From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021

In this next example, we see how to use partial fractions to integrate a rational function of this type.

From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016

Figure 4.53 The graph of this rational function approaches a horizontal asymptote as x → ±∞.

From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016

Find the slant asymptote of the rational function.

From Textbooks • Feb. 13, 2015

Thus the operations which consist in replacing x by nx and by x/n respectively, in any rational function of x, are definite inverse operations, if n is any assigned number except zero.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad" by Various