To determine the degree of a polynomial, you look at every term:
- if the term involves only one variable, the degree of that term is the exponent of the variable
- if the term involves more than one variable, the degree of that term is the sum of the exponents of the variables.
So, for example, the degree of
is 55, while the degree of
is 
Finally, the term of the degree of the polynomial is the highest degree among its terms.
So,
is a degree 2 polynomial (although it only has one term)
similarly,
is a degree 3 polynomial: the first two terms have degree 3, because they have exponents 2 and 1.

This is a geometric series with a common ratio between successive terms that is less than 1 in absolute value. This means the series will converge. The value of the sum is

.
1 mile = 5280 feet.
Convert the dimensions to feet:
10 miles = 5280 x 10 = 52,800 feet
30 miles = 5280 x 30 = 158,400 feet
Multiply together to get the area:
52,800 x 158,400 = 8,363,520,000 square feet.
1 inch = 1/12 of a foot.
Multiply the area by 1/12 for the volume of rain:
8,363,520,000 x 1/12 = 696,960,000 cubic feet.