What is the degree and the leading coefficient of the polynomial?

Question

What is the degree and the leading coefficient of the polynomial?

Answer 1

Hi Tim!

The degree of a polynomial is the highest power to which x is raised in any term in that polynomial. The leading coefficient is the coefficient on the term in which x is raised to that power.

For example, if I have a polynomial:

f(x) = 7x^3 + 3x^2 + 1,

the degree of this polynomial is 3, and the leading coefficient (called that because the "standard notation" way of writing polynomials has the terms arranged from terms with high powers down to the constant term) is 7.

Cheers,

Joe