Monomial: A number, a variable or the product of a

number and one or more variables.

Polynomial: A monomial or a sum of monomials.

Binomial: A polynomial with exactly two terms.

Trinomial: A polynomial with exactly three terms.

Coefficient: A numerical factor in a term of an algebraic

expression.
Degree of a monomial: The sum of the exponents of all
of the variables in the monomial.

Degree of a polynomial in one variable: The largest

exponent of that variable.

Standard form: When the terms of a polynomial are

arranged from the largest exponent to the smallest
exponent in decreasing order.
 What is the degree of the monomial?
4 2
5x b
The degree of a monomial is the sum of the
exponents of the variables in the monomial.
The exponents of each variable are 4 and 2. 4+2 = 6.
The degree of the monomial is 6.
The monomial can be referred to as a sixth degree
monomial.
 Polynomials in One Variable

A polynomial is a monomial or the sum of monomials

4x 2
3x − 8
3
5 x + 2 x − 14
2

Each monomial in a polynomial is a term of the

polynomial.
The number factor of a term is called the coefficient.
The coefficient of the first term in a polynomial is the
lead coefficient.
A polynomial with two terms is called a binomial.
A polynomial with three terms is called a trinomial.
 Polynomials in One Variable

The degree of a polynomial in one variable is the

largest exponent of that variable.

2 A constant has no variable. It is a 0 degree polynomial.

4 x + 1 This is a 1 st degree polynomial. 1st degree polynomials are linear.

5 x + 2 x − 14
2 This is a 2nd degree polynomial. 2nd degree
polynomials are quadratic.

3x − 8
3 This is a 3rd degree polynomial. 3rd degree polynomials are
cubic.
Example

Classify the polynomials by degree and number of terms.

Classify by
Classify by number of
Polynomial Degree degree terms
a. 5 Zero Constant Monomial

b. 2x − 4 First Linear Binomial

c. 3x 2 + x Second Quadratic Binomial

d. x − 4x +1
3 2 Third Cubic Trinomial
Standard form
To rewrite a polynomial in standard form, rearrange
the terms of the polynomial starting with the largest
degree term and ending with the lowest degree term.
The leading coefficient, the coefficient of the first
term in a polynomial written in standard form, should be
positive.
Example
Write the polynomials in standard form.

5x + 4 x 4 − x 2 − 7 2 x3 − x 4 − 7 + 5x + 5x 2

4x − x + 5 x − 7
4 2 − x + 2x + 5x + 5 x − 7
4 3 2

Remember: The lead − 1(− x 4 + 2 x3 + 5x 2 + 5x − 7)

coefficient should be
positive in standard form.
To do this, multiply the
polynomial by –1 using
the distributive property.
x 4 − 2x 3 − 5x 2− 5 x + 7
 Practice

Write the polynomials in standard form and identify the

polynomial by degree and number of terms.

1. 7 − 3x − 2 x3 2

2. 1 + 3x + 2 x
2
Example
7 − 3x − 2 x 3 2

7 − 3x 3 − 2 x 2

− 3x − 2x + 7
3 2

(
− 1 − 3x 3 − 2 x 2 + 7 )
3x 3 + 2 x 2 − 7
This is a 3rd degree, or cubic, trinomial.
Example
1 + 3x + 2 x
2

1 + 3x 2 + 2 x

3x + 2 x + 1
2

This is a 2nd degree, or quadratic, trinomial.

 Adding Polynomials with More
Than One Variable
To add polynomials, you first need to identify the like
terms in the polynomials and then combine them
according to the correct integer operations. Since like
terms must have the same exact variables raised to
the same exact power, identifying them in polynomials
with more than one variable takes a careful eye.
Sometimes parentheses are used to distinguish
between the addition of two polynomials and the
addition of a collection of monomials. With addition,
you can simply remove the parentheses and perform
the addition.
Some people find that writing the polynomial addition in a vertical form
makes it easy to combine like terms. The process of adding the
polynomials is the same, but the arrangement of the terms is different.
The example below shows this “vertical” method of adding
polynomials:
When there isn't a matching like term for every term in each
polynomial, there will be empty places in the vertical
arrangement of the polynomials. This layout makes it easy to
check that you are combining like terms only.
Subtracting Polynomials with More Than
One Variable

You can apply the same process used to subtract

polynomials with one variable to subtract polynomials
with more than one variable. In order to remove the
parentheses following a subtraction sign, you must
multiply each term by −1.
An alternative to the approach shown above is the vertical
method for arranging the subtraction problem. This method is
shown below for a different problem. Both methods are effective
for subtracting polynomials—the idea is to identify and organize
like terms in order to compute with them accurately.
The examples that follow illustrate the left-to-right and vertical
methods for the same polynomial subtraction problem. Think
about which method you find easier.
 Multiplying Polynomials with More
Than One Variable
Polynomials with more than one variable can also be multiplied
by one another. You use the same techniques you used when
you multiplied polynomials with only one variable. Consider the
following example.
(4x2y3)(5x4y2)
This is an example of multiplication of two polynomials,
specifically monomials, with two variables. To do this
multiplication, you multiply the coefficients and use the rules of
exponents to find the exponent for each variable in order to find
the product. Let’s look.

(4x2y3)(5x4y2) = (4 • 5)(x2+4)(y3+2) = 20x6y5

To multiply a monomial by a binomial, you use the distributive
property in the same way as multiplying polynomials with one
variable.
To multiply two binomials containing more than one variable, you can still
use the FOIL (First, Outer, Inner, Last) method that works for binomials
with one variable. After all, FOIL is simply a shortcut for using the
distributive property to multiply each term in one binomial by each term in
the other binomial. This process works for multiplying any two binomials.
Two examples follow.
The next example shows the product of a binomial and a trinomial, each
with two variables. Since FOIL can only be used with the product of two
binomials, you need to systematically multiply each term in the binomial
by each term in the trinomial.
When multiplying multivariable polynomials like this, some people prefer to
set up the multiplication in a vertical fashion—as you would do if you were
multiplying 45 • 189. The example below shows (9b – ab)(5a2b + 7ab –
b) set up in vertical fashion.
 Dividing Polynomials with More Than One
Variable

The fourth arithmetic operation is division. Polynomials

with more than one variable can also be divided. When
dividing monomials with more than one variable, you
divide the coefficients and then divide variables. When
there are exponents with the same base, the law of
exponents says you divide by subtracting the
exponents.
Now let’s look at an example of dividing a trinomial with more than one
variable by a monomial with more than one variable. This follows the same
procedure as when you have one variable, but you need to pay attention to
distinguishing between the variables.
Summary

Performing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and

division of polynomials with more than one variable
follows the same steps as operating on polynomials in
one variable. The key things to pay attention to are
combining only like terms and applying the laws of
exponents, integer operations, and the order of
operations accurately.