. The degree of a polynomial is equal to the highest exponent on a single term. 17n has an exponent of 5 and n has an exponent of 4, so our degree is the higher of the two which is 5. So this is a fifth degree polynomial. "Polynomial" is a generic term for a many termed expression. Ours happens to have 2 terms so we would classify it as a binomial. If it only 1 term it would be a monomial, if it had 3 it would be a trinomial. Higher than that we just revert back to polynomial to classify.