Question

How do you determine the degree of a polynomial

Answer 1

The degree of a polynomial refers to the highest degree of its individual terms having non-zero coefficients.

Explanation:

The degree of a polynomial refers to the highest degree of its individual terms having non-zero coefficients. For example;

A quadratic polynomial is a polynomial of degree 2. This polynomial takes the general form;

`ax^(2)+bx+c`

where a, b, and c are constants. This is usually referred to as a quadratic polynomial in x since x is the variable. The highest power of x in the polynomial is 2, hence the degree of any quadratic polynomial is 2.

A second example, consider the cubic polynomial;

`ax^(3)+bx^(2)+cx+d`

The degree of this polynomial is 3.