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What is the degree of the polynomial? 5z3 - 2z4 - 9z2 + z

2 Answers

2 votes

Answer and Step-by-step explanation:

We're asked to find the degree of the following polynomial:


\bf{5z^3-2z^2-9z^2+z}

What is a polynomial degree?

A polynomial degree is the highest exponent of that polynomial.

Let's identify the exponent of each of these terms & see which one is the highest. Let's start!

⇒ The term 5z³ has an exponent of 3.

⇒ The term -2z⁴ has an exponent of 4.

⇒ The term -9z² has an exponent of 2.

⇒ The term z has an exponent of 1.

Which one is the highest exponent? You guessed it - 4 is the highest one, hence, it's also the polynomial degree.

User Howy
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5 votes

Answer:

4

Explanation:

Hi there! I'm glad I was able to help you!

When I was in school and I learned about this, my math teacher taught us that in order to find the degree of a polynomial you would determine which variable or number had the largest exponent.

In our case, 5z^3 - 2z^4 - 9z^2 + z would have a degree of 4, because the variable z in 2z^4 has an exponent of four.

The 4 in the polynomial is the largest exponent, therefore the degree of the polynomial we are given is four.

I hope this helped you! Comment below if I can help you with anything else! :)

User NextInLine
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