Precalculus Examples

$f (x) = x^{3} - 5 x^{2} - 9 x + 45$

Step 1

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

$x^{3} \to 3$

$- 5 x^{2} \to 2$

$- 9 x \to 1$

$45 \to 0$

Step 2

The largest exponent is the degree of the polynomial.

$3$

Step 3

The maximum number of possible roots is the degree of $x^{3} - 5 x^{2} - 9 x + 45$ .

$3$