Question

Which answer describes the polynomial?

3x^3 + 4x^2 - 7

A) Quartic Trinomial
B) Cubic Trinomial
C) Quadratic Trinomial
D) Cubic Binomial

Answer 1

Because there are three terms in this polynomial function, this would be considered a trinomial. Knowing that, we can immediately eliminate choice D.

Look at the highest degree in the problem and identify it. The degree should be 3. This means that the function is cubic. So, the best choice is B) Cubic Trinomial.

**For future reference, know that quartic is an unknown quantity or variable to the fourth power. While a quadratic is an unknown quantity or variable to the second power.

Answer 2

B) Cubic Trinomial It is cubic because it goes up to the 3rd power, as seen in 3x^3. A quadratic function would only go up to the 2nd power, and a quartic function would go to the 4th. It is a trinomial rather than a binomial as it has three terms. The constant is considered as a term. It would be a binomial only if there were two terms.