2x^2-5x+6 whats the degree in this polynomial? is it two? or is it three? i know that its the sum of the exponents and thats whats confusing me here because theres a minus in between the two exponents so there two different terms now does that mean that you cant add them?

Question

anonymous · Answer

it's 2, which is the highest degree of it's terms.

anonymous · Answer

ok so you dont add them, thank you very much ma'am

anonymous · Answer

Yes, the degree of a term is the sum of the exponents of the variables that appear in it. So here, in your example 2x^2-5x+6 there's only one variable, x. (so theres no need of taking sum of exponents) If there were more than one variable (say, x and y) then we have to take the sum of its exponents For example, the polynomial x^2y^3+4x+4 has three terms. The first term x^2y^3 has a degree of 5 (the sum of the powers 2 and 3), the second term 4x has a degree of 1, and the last term has a degree of 0. Therefore, the polynomial has a degree of 5 which is the highest degree of any term. Read this article in wikipeadia for more explanations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degree_of_a_polynomial