Precalculus Examples

$f (x) = - 2 x - x^{7}$

Step 1

Reorder $- 2 x$ and $- x^{7}$ .

$f (x) = - x^{7} - 2 x$

Step 2

Identify the exponents on the variables in each term, and add them together to find the degree of each term.

$- x^{7} \to 7$

$- 2 x \to 1$

Step 3

The largest exponent is the degree of the polynomial.

$7$

Step 4

The maximum number of possible roots is the degree of $- x^{7} - 2 x$ .

$7$