Question

Classify 4n3+6 by degree. ____ by number of terms _____. Trying to help my son and I don't have a clue...

Answer 1

ok, so do you know what a polynomial is?

Answer 2

No

Answer 3

The degree of a number is the highest term in the polynomial or term with the highest exponent whats the highest exponent? 4n^3 is one term +6 is another term how many terms are there?

Answer 4

Polynomial comes from poly- (meaning "many") and -nomial (in this case meaning "term") ... so it says "many terms"
http://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/polynomials.html

Answer 5

2 terms

Answer 6

ok so, a polynomial is something that looks like this: \[a_0+a_1x+a_2x^2+...+a_na^n\]

Answer 7

The degree, or order of the polynomial is the n term(ie the largest exponent)

Answer 8

Okay

Answer 9

So then, once you decide you have a polynomial, you can count how many unique(I'll explain that in a sec) terms you have

Answer 10

unique means that no two terms have the same exponent ie \(x^2\) and \(5x^2\) are not unique

Answer 11

The coefficient on the term,(the a's in the general form) have no weight when determining how many terms you have

Answer 12

so then, once you count your terms, you have to apply the more specific name, to a polynomial, as mentioned just means multiple. It is the most general classification

Answer 13

so, now the prefix there is poly- Once you decide how many terms you have, just apply the appropriate prefix that corresponds to that number. Let me know what you think it may be here

Answer 14

Also, you may like to read this in case you need to explain a little more in depth http://www.purplemath.com/modules/polydefs.htm