Verified answer

A polynomial is an expression which is the sum of several terms, each one being either a constant or the product of a constant and a variable.

The degree of a polynomial is the power of the term with the highest power.

Huh?

Well the equation x + 3 = 7 is a polynomial

So is x² - 6x + 32 = 0

Likwise so is y³ -2xy +25x + 7 = 30

In each example, the degree of the polynomial is the highest power.

So in example one, the highest power of x is 1. In example 2, the degree is the highest power of x which is 2, and in example 3, the highest power of y is 3.

A 2nd degree polynomial is called a quadratic, a third degree is called a cubic, and a fourth degree called a quartic.

Be careful, in a more complex example the answer may not be so obvious.

For example the expression:

2x²y² + x³ -22x + 16 = 0

is not a cubic (degree 3) polynomial. That's because 2x²y² is the product of two 2nd degree terms, giving a 4th degree term, so the polynomial has a degree of 4 - it is a quartic expression.

In our question, highest power of the variable (y) is 1. We have (-3)^1.

Quite simply, therefore the answer is 1, answer c).

(a) is a red herring.

(b) is the constant

(c) is our answer

(d) is the co-efficient of y - it has nothing to do with the power of y.

The degree of the polynomial is stumbled on by using looking the time era with the optimal exponent. So the answer to variety 2 (first one listed) is 5 by using fact the 1st time era has a cube and a sq....mutually will equivalent a level of five. the answer to variety 8 (the final one) is 7.

A little research goes a long way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degree_of_a_polynomia...