degree of the first term

Question

degree of the first term

 

5a-1+ 4a to the eighth power

Answer 1

Dawn, anything to the first power is itself, so the degree of 5a is 1.

 

We are only looking at the degree of the variable. The degree of -1 is 0, because anything to the 0 power equals 1. -1a⁰ = -1(1) = -1.

 

The degree of 4a⁸ is 8.

 

Normally, we write the terms in descending order, so this would be 4a⁸ + 5a - 1.

 

We cannot combine 4a⁸ with 5a because they do not have the same degree!

 

That's a long explanation to maybe help with your other questions, but the answer to this one is 1.

 

Hope this helps!