Math. [f. TERNARY + the ending of INVARIANT, etc.) (See quots.)
1882. Sylvester, in Amer. Jrnl. Math., v. 81, note. I am inclined to substitute the word binariant for subinvariants, and to speak of simple, double, treble or multiple binariants. The functions similarly related to ternary forms will then be styled simple or multiple ternariants.
1890. Forsyth, ibid., XII. 1, note. It has proved convenient to use the word ternariants as a generic term for concomitants of ternary quantics, instead of giving it the signification which Prof. Sylvester proposed, viz. the leading coefficients of those concomitants.