Quadratics Crossword Puzzle

Print a criss-cross quadratics crossword of parabola and factoring words, or one whose answers are numbers you work out.

More options

Settings you change are kept in this browser for your next visit.

Name Date

Quadratics Crossword

x^2 stands for x times x. Where a clue asks for a number, write it as a word with no space or hyphen: 21 is TWENTYONE.

This grid is wider than a phone screen, so it scrolls sideways. It prints whole.

Tap a square, and its clue shows here.

Across

Down

Type in a square and the next one takes over. Tap the same square again, or press Space, to switch between Across and Down. Arrow keys move around the grid, Enter goes to the next clue, and a clue takes you to its squares.

Print gives 2 pages on Letter or A4: the puzzle with its clues, then the answer key. The squares print 8 mm wide. For a PDF, choose Save as PDF in the print window.

A share link holds the puzzle number and these settings, nothing you typed.

Answer key: Quadratics Crossword

1FOR2MULAA3DX4MINIMUMSMCU5FACTORM6PIA7V8SYMMETRY9ZEROIARLNBTVA10ROOTEENLX11STANDARD

Across 1 FORMULA · 4 MINIMUM · 5 FACTOR · 8 SYMMETRY · 9 ZERO · 10 ROOT · 11 STANDARD

Down 2 MAXIMUM · 3 DISCRIMINANT · 6 PARABOLA · 7 VERTEX · 8 SOLVE

Next step Find algebra vocabulary in a word searchPrint the solving equations crossword

All 104 clues

Show all clues and answers

Parts of a Quadratic 20

  • Base In x^2, the x
  • Binomial x + 3 is one, and so is x^2 − 9: "bi" counts its parts
  • Coefficient In 3x^2 the 3 is this; in ax^2 + bx + c, a and b are
  • Constant The c of ax^2 + bx + c, which has no x in it
  • Cubic One step up from quadratic: its highest power of x is 3
  • Degree The highest power of x in an expression
  • Exponent The 2 in x^2: on paper it is written small and raised
  • Function What the f stands for in f(x) = x^2
  • Latin Language of quadratus, "square", the source of the word quadratic
  • Linear Name for the bx part, where x is to the first power
  • Monomial 5x^2 alone is one: "mono" counts its parts
  • Simplify To combine pieces such as 2x and 3x so an expression is as short as it can be
  • Squared x^2 is read "x ___"
  • Standard ___ form: a quadratic written as ax^2 + bx + c
  • Substitute To swap x for a number, as when x = 3 turns x^2 into 9
  • Term 3x^2, 2x and −7 are each one of these in 3x^2 + 2x − 7
  • Trinomial ax^2 + bx + c is one: "tri" counts its parts
  • Two The highest power of x in every quadratic, written as a word
  • Unknown What x is called in an equation until you find it
  • Variable The x in ax^2 + bx + c, as opposed to the fixed numbers a, b and c

Parabolas and Graphs 24

  • Average The x of the turning point is the ___ of the x-values where the graph crosses the x-axis
  • Conic Kind of section the U is: a slice through a cone
  • Coordinate The 3 or the 9 in the point (3, 9)
  • Directrix Line outside the U: each point of the U is as near to it as to one special point inside
  • Dish Satellite ___: an antenna whose bowl is the U spun around, so signals bounce to one point
  • Downward Direction in which the U of y = −3x^2 opens, because −3 is negative
  • Focus Fixed point of the U: every point of the curve is as far from it as from a fixed line
  • Gravity The pull that bends a thrown ball's path into the U upside down
  • Intercept The graph of y = x^2 − 4 has an x-___ at 2 and a y-___ at −4
  • Maximum Greatest value of y; the graph has one when a is negative
  • Minimum Least value of y; the graph has one when a is positive
  • Mirror Each half of the U is a ___ image of the other
  • Origin The U of y = x^2 turns here, at x = 0 and y = 0
  • Parabola The U-shaped curve you get when you graph y = x^2
  • Plot To mark points such as (1, 1) and (2, 4) on a grid
  • Projectile A thrown or launched object; with no air drag its path is the U upside down
  • Reflection What takes y = x^2 to y = −x^2: a flip over the x-axis
  • Shift y = (x − 3)^2 is y = x^2 after a ___ of 3 to the right
  • Stretch y = 2x^2 is a ___ of y = x^2: every point is 2 times as far from the x-axis
  • Symmetry Axis of ___: the fold line down the middle of the U
  • Tangent When b^2 − 4ac is 0, the x-axis is ___ to the graph: it touches at one point
  • Upward Direction in which the U of y = 3x^2 opens, because 3 is positive
  • Vertex The turning point of the U: its highest or lowest point
  • Vertical How the fold line of the graph of y = ax^2 + bx + c runs: like a flagpole

Factoring and Solving 28

  • Check Last step: try your value of x in the equation you started with
  • Clay Old Babylonian tablets of this material show problems about areas and sides of rectangles
  • Completing ___ the square: the method that rewrites x^2 + 6x as (x + 3)^2 − 9
  • Complex Kind of numbers, written a + bi, in which every quadratic equation has its answers
  • Conjugate 3 + 2i and 3 − 2i: each is the ___ of the other
  • Difference ___ of squares: the pattern a^2 − b^2 = (a + b)(a − b)
  • Discriminant The part b^2 − 4ac under the √: it tells how many times the graph meets the x-axis
  • Double When b^2 − 4ac is 0, the equation has one repeated, or ___, answer
  • Expand To multiply out (x + 2)(x + 3) into x^2 + 5x + 6
  • Factor To write x^2 + 5x + 6 as (x + 2)(x + 3) is to ___ it
  • FOIL Memory word for (x + 2)(x + 3): F is x · x, O is x · 3, I is 2 · x, L is 2 · 3
  • Formula The quadratic ___ gives x from a, b and c for any quadratic equation
  • Imaginary The ___ unit i is the number whose square is −1
  • Irrational Kind of number that √2 is: no fraction of whole numbers equals it
  • Minus The symbol ± is read "plus or ___"
  • None How many times the graph meets the x-axis when b^2 − 4ac is negative
  • Once How many times the graph touches the x-axis when b^2 − 4ac is 0
  • Perfect x^2 + 6x + 9 is a ___ square, because it equals (x + 3)^2
  • Product Result of multiplying: if a ___ is 0, one of the things multiplied is 0
  • Radical Name of the symbol √
  • Rational 3/4, −2 and 0.5 are all this: each one is a ratio of integers
  • Real Kind of numbers on the number line; when b^2 − 4ac is negative, no answer is this kind
  • Root A number that makes the equation true: 2 is a ___ of x^2 − 4 = 0
  • Sign Positive or negative: the ___ of a decides which way the U opens
  • Solve What you do to an equation to find its answers
  • Sum Result of adding: the pair of numbers that split x^2 + 7x + 12 have a ___ of 7
  • Twice How many times the graph crosses the x-axis when b^2 − 4ac is positive
  • Zero An x that gives an output of 0: x = 1 is one for y = x^2 − 1

Work It Out: Number Answers 32

  • Eight The only solution of x^2 − 16x + 64 = 0
  • Eighteen Multiply the solutions of x^2 − 9x + 18 = 0
  • Eighty-One The value of (x + 4)^2 when x is 5
  • Eleven The positive solution of x^2 = 121
  • Fifteen The larger solution of x^2 − 20x + 75 = 0
  • Fifty The larger solution of x^2 − 60x + 500 = 0
  • Five The larger solution of x^2 − 9x + 20 = 0
  • Forty The positive solution of 2x^2 = 3,200
  • Forty-Nine The value of b^2 − 4ac for x^2 + 7x
  • Four The positive solution of x^2 − 16 = 0
  • Fourteen Add the solutions of x^2 − 14x + 45 = 0
  • Nine The positive solution of x^2 − 6x − 27 = 0
  • Nineteen f(4) for f(x) = x^2 + 3
  • Ninety Multiply the solutions of x^2 − 19x + 90 = 0
  • Seven The larger solution of x^2 − 10x + 21 = 0
  • Seventeen The value of b^2 − 4ac for 2x^2 + 5x + 1
  • Seventy Add the solutions of x^2 − 70x + 600 = 0
  • Six The positive solution of x^2 + x − 42 = 0
  • Sixteen The value of b^2 − 4ac for x^2 + 6x + 5
  • Sixty The lowest y on the graph of y = x^2 + 60
  • Sixty-Four The highest y on the graph of y = 64 − x^2
  • Ten The larger solution of x^2 − 12x + 20 = 0
  • Thirteen The positive solution of x^2 − 169 = 0
  • Thirty The larger solution of x^2 − 31x + 30 = 0
  • Thirty-Six The number that completes the square: x^2 − 12x + ___
  • Thirty-Two The value of 2x^2 when x is 4
  • Three The larger solution of x^2 − 5x + 6 = 0
  • Twelve The larger solution of x^2 − 13x + 12 = 0
  • Twenty The positive solution of x^2 − 400 = 0
  • Twenty-Five The number that completes the square: x^2 + 10x + ___
  • Twenty-Four The y where the graph of y = x^2 + 5x + 24 crosses the y-axis
  • Twenty-One f(5) for f(x) = x^2 − 4

How this list was compiled: Clues and problems written for this site for an algebra unit on quadratics. Word meanings were checked in English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0), in the articles Quadratic equation, Quadratic function, Parabola and their neighbors. Every number answer was worked out by formula and then checked again from the printed clue. No clue was copied from a textbook or a published puzzle. Licence: own work

How it works

This quadratics crossword puzzle prints on Letter or A4 with its answer key last. The first puzzle has 12 key words, among them Parabola, Vertex, Root, Discriminant, Factor and Symmetry, as in axis of symmetry.

Read the full guide

Three word sets after the key words

Parts of a Quadratic has Coefficient, Trinomial and Standard. Parabolas and Graphs has Directrix, Intercept and Projectile. Factoring and Solving has Completing, Conjugate and FOIL.

A set where students solve

In Work It Out: Number Answers every clue is a small problem and the answer is a number written as a word. "The larger solution of x^2 − 9x + 20 = 0" is FIVE, and "The value of b^2 − 4ac for x^2 + 6x + 5" is SIXTEEN, so a wrong solution will not fit its crossing letters.

  • Root and Discriminant are answers, so other clues write √ and b^2 − 4ac in symbols.

Questions and answers

Does the quadratics crossword puzzle come with an answer key?

Yes. The key prints last, on a sheet of its own, with the filled grid and every answer by number, so the puzzle goes to students and the key stays with you.

What grade is a quadratics crossword for?

In the Common Core standards, solving quadratic equations by factoring, completing the square and the quadratic formula is high school algebra. Key Quadratics Words suits a first unit; Directrix and Conjugate suit a later course. That split is our judgment, not a published standard.

What does the discriminant tell you?

For ax^2 + bx + c = 0 the discriminant is b^2 − 4ac. If it is positive the equation has two distinct real roots, if it is zero one repeated root, and if it is negative no real roots.

What is the axis of symmetry of a parabola?

It is the vertical line through the vertex, x = −b/2a for y = ax^2 + bx + c. The two halves of the parabola mirror each other across it.

More tools

Show 7 more

Browse Puzzles