The term polynomial was introduced by a French mathematician Franciscus Vieta. Polynomial is made of two words ‘poly’ which means ‘many’ in Greek and ‘nomial’ which means ‘terms’. So, polynomial means ‘many terms’.
A polynomial can be composed of:
1) Constants –A constant is a number on its own. For example 4, -3, 4/5, 0.3
2) Variables – A variable is usually a letter for an unknown number. For example x, y, p, r, a, and b
3) Exponents – An exponent tells how many times to use the value in a multiplication. For example 3 is exponent in x3
4) Terms – A term can be either a constant or a variable, or a number and a variable multiplied together. For example 4, x, 7x, 8xy
and these can be combined by addition, subtraction and multiplication.
Monomial, Binomial and Trinomial are types of polynomials with one, two and three terms respectively.
In polynomial 6x2 + 4xy – 8:
- 6x2, 4xy, 8 are terms
- 2 is exponent to x
- x and y are variables
- 8 is a constant
More examples of polynomials:
- 5x
- 4x – 3
- x2 +
- 6
- 8a3 + 5b4