What is a Polynomial?

A polynomial is defined as an expression which contains variables, constant and exponent and involves operations like addition, multiplication, subtraction and division. Polynomial was derived from poly (meaning many) and nomial (meaning term).

Example:

x² + 4x +5

Is a polynomial of 2 degree. It has three terms and only one variable that is (x).

Degree

The degree of the polynomial is the largest exponent of a variable. For example, 3y⁵ + 2y²x -7 the highest degree in this polynomial is 5 and there are 2 variables in this polynomial that (x) and (y).

If we take another example like z³ + 15z²y -1/2. Here the highest degree will be 3 and the order of degree will be 3 since it is the largest then 2 and 1.

Properties of Polynomial

• Polynomials can have no variable at all. For example 81 is a polynomial which is a constant.
• Polynomial can have one variable or more than one variable.
• If a constant or intermediate is divided by a variable then it is not a polynomial.
• A polynomial cannot have an exponent in negative.