Question

What is the degree of this polynomial? 5 + 2s

Answer 1

Answer:  1

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Explanation:

We can rewrite 5 as 5s^0, since s^0 = 1 where s is nonzero.

Think of 2s as 2s^1

With those ideas in mind, the original polynomial turns into 5s^0 + 2s^1

Sorting the terms so that the largest exponent is first gets us the standard form 2s^1 + 5s^0

The largest exponent is the degree, so the degree is 1.

Side note: This trick only works for single variable polynomials.