Michigan Algebra I Sept. 2012

Polynomials are classified by their number of terms and by their degrees.

There are special names for polynomials with 1, 2 or 3 terms:

There is also quadrinomial (4 terms) and quintinomial (5 terms), but those names are not often used. Usually, when a polynomial has four or more terms, it is usually just called a polynomial.

When a term has multiple variables, the degree of the term is the sum of the exponentswithin the term. For example, the term 3x³y²z is a 6^th degree or order because the exponents add to 6 (3 + 2+ 1).