Michigan Algebra II KHauck

Each term in the polynomial has a degree. In single variable polynomials the degree is the value of the exponent. In the example:

4x³ has a degree of 3 and is called a cubic term or 3^rd order term,

2x² has a degree of 2 and is called the quadratic term or 2^nd order term,

-3x has a degree of 1 and is called the linear term or 1^st order term,

1 has a degree of 0 and is called the constant.

The degree of a polynomial is the same as the degree of the term with the largest exponent. Since the largest exponent in our example is 3, the polynomial is of degree 3, also called a "cubic" polynomial.