A to F   G to M   N to T   U to Z   Key Words: - Binomial - Coefficient - Degree - Expression - Factor - Literal - Monomial - Multinomial - Numerical Coefficient - Polynomial - Similar Terms - Term - Trinomial   See also: - Absolute Coefficient - Coefficient - Degree - Factor   Buy Books with amazon.com Mathematics for the Millions Buy It!   Maths Algebra Algebra is a branch of maths where symbols are used to represent numbers. An algebraic expression is a combination of numbers and letters or symbols representing numbers (literals). A term is a combination of products, quotients, numbers and literals, for example, 4x3 and 1.5y-2. 4x3 + 1.5y-2 is an expression consisting of two terms   Each number or symbol in a term is called a factor of the term and is said to be the coefficient of the rest of the term. So for 4x2y3, 4 is the coefficient of x2y3, 4x2 is the coefficient of y3 and 4y3 is the coefficient of x2.   Of a term consisting of the product of one number and a combination of one or more symbols, the numerical coefficient (or simply coefficient) is the number. For example, the numerical coefficient of 4x2y3 is 4.   A monomial expression consists of only one term and is sometimes just called a term. A binomial expression consists of two terms and a trinomial consists of three terms. A multinomial consists of more than one term.   Two terms are said to be similar (or like) when they differ only in their numerical coefficients. For example, 5x2y3 and 2x2y3. Similar terms can be combined into one term by adding the numerical coefficients. For example:   3x2y3 + 5x2y3 - 1x2y3 = 7x2y3   A term is said to be integral and rational in certain literals if there are positive integer powers of the varibles multiplied by a factor which does not contain a variable or there are no variables at all. For example, 3x2y3, 5, -2x4 and 0.3x9 are all integral and rational in the present variables. A polynomial is a monomial or multinomial where every term is integral and rational.   The degree of a term is the sum of the exponents in the variables. For example, the degree of 3x2y3z6 is 3 + 2 + 6 = 11. For a polynomial, the degree is same as that for the term of the highest degree. For example, if a polynomial has four terms with degrees 2, 5, 4 and 8, the degree of the polynomial is 8. The degree of a constant is zero.

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