Degree of a polynomial is?

• A. The number of terms
• B. The largest exponent of the polynomial
• C. The leading coefficient
• D. The number of variables

Answer: (B)

The degree of a polynomial is the highest power of the variable that appears with a nonzero coefficient. In a single-variable polynomial, you look at the exponents of that variable, and the largest exponent you see is the degree. For example, in 3x^5 - 4x^3 + 7, the highest exponent is 5, so the degree is 5. This isn’t about how many terms the polynomial has, nor the size of the leading coefficient, nor how many variables appear. The degree focuses solely on the largest exponent of the variable. If you have a constant like 7, the degree is 0 (since it can be viewed as 7x^0). The zero polynomial’s degree is usually not defined.