Question 170920
Your instructions are not very clear. In fact, I don't see any instructions.



However, I'm assuming that you want to find the leading term and the degree of the polynomial correct?




First, we need to sort the terms of {{{9x^2 + 2x^5+ 8x-3}}} in descending exponential order. In other words, start with the term that has the largest exponent (which is {{{2x^5}}}) and move onto {{{9x^2}}}, {{{8x}}}, etc



So the sorted polynomial is {{{2x^5+9x^2+8x-3}}}




Since the leading term is the first term on the left, this means that the leading term is {{{2x^5}}}. 



Also, recall that the degree of a polynomial is simply the exponent of the leading term (ie it is the largest exponent).



Since the exponent of the leading term {{{2x^5}}} is 5, the degree is 5.