The answer is A. When a variable is squared it is quadratic, cubed it is cubic, to the fourth power it is quartic, to the fifth power it is quintic, etc. These all are also called polynomials... In the formula y=mx^2+bx+c, m= the coefficient that tells you how quickly the parabola opens up or better known as the quadratic part of the equation, the bx is the linear part of the equation which isn't ALWAYS necessarily important, but then the c= is the constant, which means that this is always the y-intercept or when x equals zero... hope this helps.