To classify a polynomial, it must first be written in standard form with terms in descending order by exponent. A polynomial can then be classified by either its degree, which is the highest exponent in the expression, or by the number of terms it contains. The number of terms can be a monomial, binomial, trinomial, or polynomial for 4 or more terms.

1. Top of FormBy Degree or By TermsBefore you classify a polynomial, you must make sure that it is in standard form. Standard form is when the expression is written in descending order from the highest exponent to the lowest exponent in numerical order.Once it's in standard form, there are two ways that you can classify a polynomial: by degree and by number of terms. The degree of a polynomial is the largest exponent that is in the expression. So a parabola would be a 2nd degree equation because x-squared is the highest exponent. If you are classifying by the number of terms, you can either have a monomial (one term), binomial (two terms), trinomial (three terms), or just polynomial (4 or more terms). Examples....Classify each PolynomialPolyClassified by DegreeClassified by Number of Termsx + 61st degreeBinomialx3 + x - 63rd degreeTrinomialx5 + x3 - 2x + 95th degreePolynomialBottom of Form<br />