What is a polynomial with 4 terms?

1 Answer
Aug 1, 2015

You can say that it's a quadrinomial, but that just means it has 4 terms.

If those terms are in a single variable of highest degree 3, then it's called a cubic.

Explanation:

ax^3+bx^2+cx+d is a quadrinomial and a cubic.

ax^5+bx^2+cx+d is quadrinomial but a quintic (the term of highest degree has degree 5).

ax^3+cx+d is a cubic but not a quadrinomial.

ax^3+bx^2+cx+d/x is a quadrinomial but not a polynomial.