How do you find the degree of -(x-4)(+1)^2(x-1)^3(x4)(+1)2(x1)3?

1 Answer
Aug 22, 2015

[-(x-4)(+1)^2(x-1)^3][(x4)(+1)2(x1)3] has degree 44

Explanation:

The degree of a polynomial is the degree of the term with the highest degree.

The degree of a term is sum of the degrees of the variables which are factors of that term.

You could multiply the given expression out to obtain a canonical form...something like x^4-10x^3+15x^2-13x+4x410x3+15x213x+4 (unverified)
or you could simply recognize that this expression will have a maximum term degree of 44 (a term x^4x4)