Question

How do you state the degree of the polynomial `4a^2b^3 + 2ab^2 – 10`?

Answer 1

It is degree `5`. We could instead say that it is a `5^(th)` degree polynomial.

Explanation:

The degree of each term is the sum of the exponents on the variables.

`{:("Term","Degree"),(4a^2b^3," "5),(2ab^2," "3),(-10," "0) :}`

The degree of the polynomial is the greatest of the degrees of the individual terms. In this case, `5`