Question

How do you write a polynomial in standard form, then classify it by degree and number of terms `5x^3-x^5+8x+2x^4`?

Answer 1

Standard form: `-x^5 + 2x^4 + 5x^3 + 8x`

Degree: `5`

Number of terms: `4`

Explanation:

To write it in standard form, it must be from largest to smallest exponent.

The largest exponent is `5`, then `4`, `3`, and `1`, so let's order it that way:
`-x^5 + 2x^4 + 5x^3 + 8x`

Classifying it by degree means what is the highest exponent there. That would be `5` (from `-x^5`).

The number of terms means how many "terms" are separated by the `+` and `-` operations. Therefore, there are 4 terms.

Hope this helps!