👉 In mathematics, "intermediary" refers to a value that is neither directly or indirectly attained through any one of two or more steps. It is often used in contexts where there are multiple paths to reaching a particular goal, but only one path leads to the desired result. For example, consider the problem of solving a quadratic equation ax^2 + bx + c = 0 with integer coefficients. If we try to solve this using the method of completing the square or by factoring, then