Question

Garcia wrote the equation y=-0.2x^2+5x-8 to model the path of a soccer ball. What is true about the expression -0.2x^2+5x-8?

Answer 1

Answer:

Step-by-step explanation:

A.  The leading coefficient is the number on the highest degree term.  We have a 2nd degree polynomial because of the power of 2 on the x.  That's what leads this polynomial off.  So the leading coefficient is the number stuck to that x-squared term.  Our leading coefficient is a -.2, not 5.  5 is the linear term.

B.  The constant is the number that doesn't have a variable stuck to it.  Our constant, then, is -8, not 2.

C.  The expression does in fact have 3 terms.  Each term is separated from the other terms by either a plus sign or a minus sign.  A polynomial with 3 terms is called a trinomial.

D.  The expression actually factors to x = 1.718... and x = 23.281...  Neither one of those is the factor given in the statement.  

The only one that is true is C.