POLYNOMIALS VOCABULARY

What is polynomial ?

A mathematical expression of one or more algebraic terms each of which consists of a constant multiplied by one or more variables raised to a nonnegative integral power.

The algebraic terms which has the power as rational numbers or negative cannot be considered as polynomial.

Degree of the Polynomials

What is degree of the polynomial ?

A polynomial’s degree is the highest or the greatest power of a variable in a polynomial. The degree indicates the highest exponential power in the polynomial.

Find degree of the polynomial consists of one variable :

For example, considering the powers of the polynomial

3x² + 2x

2 is the highest exponent. So, 2 is the degree of the polynomial.

Find degree of the polynomial consists of multi variable :

For example, considering the powers of the polynomial

3x²y + 2x³y² + 3xy

Degree of the first term 3x²y = 2 + 1 ==> 3

Degree of the second term 2x³y²  =  3 + 2 ==> 5

Degree of the third term 3xy = 1 + 1 ==> 2

The highest is 5. So, the degree of the polynomial is 5.

• Find degree of the polynomials examples
• Find degree of the polynomial with more than one variable

Coefficient

What is coefficient ?

The value that appears in front of the variable is coefficient.

For example,

6x² + 3x

The coefficient of x² is 6.

• Find numerical coefficient and coefficient of terms
• Find numerical coefficients worksheet

Like Terms and Unlike Terms

What are like terms ?

Like terms are the terms which have the same variables with same exponent for each variable.

What are unlike terms ?

Unlike terms will not have same variables or they will not have same exponents.

• Like and unlike terms worksheet