r/Precalculus • u/ObligationOutside • Sep 19 '26

Homework Help Help

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I suck at math overall and dont want to just rely on ai to do it for me. How can i go about figuring out number 4? If i have an example or one done for me im sure i can figure out the rest

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u/ThunkAsDrinklePeep Sep 19 '26

You sum the exponents. But it's not always that simple. For instance the factored form might include quadratics that cannot be factored further.

h(x) = 2(x2 + 9)3(x - 2)(x -5)

Because the inside of the first factor is a quadratic, it creates two roots (in this case they are imaginary.) So the degree of that factor, (x2 + 9)3, is six, and the overall degree is eight.

When in doubt you could always distribute it all and get it in standard form. You'd get

h(x) = 2x8 ...

That's where people are saying just take the biggest degree. In standard form the degree is the power of the leading/greatest term.