Question

How do you write a polynomial in standard form, then classify it by degree and number of terms `9z^2 - 11z^2 + 5z - 5`?

Answer 1

First, we see that there are two terms that are `z^2`, so we can combine these.

`9z^2 - 11z^2 = -2z^2`

So now we have `-2z^2 + 5z - 5`

This is our standard form.
The degree is the highest exponent in our polynomial, which is `2`.
The number of terms is the number of separate terms or values in our polynomial. This one has `3` terms, so it is a trinomial.

Usually, 2nd degree would be quadratic, third degree cubic, 4th degree quartic, etc.

So overall, this polynomial is a quadratic trinomial.