The problem with the quadratic formula is that, without referring back to the polynomial or thinking through the proof, I have no way to know which coefficient corresponds to which term of the polynomial. Here's an improvement on the variable naming:
X and Y are descriptive of an overwhelmingly common abstraction, the cartesian coordinate system. They do about the best job they can do.
The coefficients (a, b, c) are opaque. It seems like they would be better generalized as (C_2, C_1, C_0) (or subscripts instead of _#), to let C_N represent "The coefficient for the x^N term of the polynomial").
A few extra characters that are acceptable to mathematicians (subscripts are ++good) would make the formula much more readable, and lets us generalize to higher-order polynomials for similar solutions (not that they necessarily exist).
X and Y are descriptive of an overwhelmingly common abstraction, the cartesian coordinate system. They do about the best job they can do.
The coefficients (a, b, c) are opaque. It seems like they would be better generalized as (C_2, C_1, C_0) (or subscripts instead of _#), to let C_N represent "The coefficient for the x^N term of the polynomial").
A few extra characters that are acceptable to mathematicians (subscripts are ++good) would make the formula much more readable, and lets us generalize to higher-order polynomials for similar solutions (not that they necessarily exist).