Question

Consider the following expressionEnter your search term-x+ 8x^2 - 9Step 2 of 2: Determine the degree and the leading coefficient of the polynomial.

Answer 1

The Solution:

Given the expression below:

$-x+8x^2-9$

We are asked to determine the degree and the leading coefficient of the above polynomial.

The degree of the polynomial is the highest power of the independent variable.

$\begin{gathered} -x+8x^2-9 \\ \text{ which can also be written as:} \\ 8x^2-x-9 \end{gathered}$

So,

The degree of the polynomial is 2.

The leading coefficient of the polynomial is the coefficient of the term with the highest power.

So,

The leading coefficient is 8.