Essential Ideas for Section 6.1

The terminology associated with polynomials is important because it is used throughout all of mathematics. Review these terms from this section: term, polynomial, monomial, binomial, trinomial, degree of a term, degree of a polynomial, linear, quadratic, numerical coefficient, like terms, and similar terms. Here are some additional essential ideas:

To simplify a polynomial means to carry out all operations (according to the order of operations agreement) and to write the answer in a form with the highest degree term first, with the rest of the terms arranged by decrdeasing degree. If there are two terms of the same degree, arrange those terms alphabetically.

Binomials are important in algebra. Here are two important binomial ideas: