How do you write a polynomial in standard form, then classify it by degree and number of terms 2x^2 + 3x^3 + 4x^4 + 5x^5?
1 Answer
standard form:
degree: 5
number of terms: 4
Explanation:
A polynomial in standard form has the order of it's terms in decreasing degree, where the degree of a term is the (sum of) the exponent(s) of its variables.
For example:
and
In this case, we have the terms:
placing them in descending order requires that
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The degree of a polynomial (as opposed to the degree of a single term) is the largest value of any of its terms' degrees.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A term is an element of a polynomial separated from other elements by either addition or subtraction.
