Question

A quadratic polynomial can have at most __________ terms.

(a) 1

(b) 4

(c) 2

(d) 3

I got this question in my homework.

This intriguing question originated from Polynomials Basics in portion Polynomials of Mathematics – Class 9

Answer 1

The correct answer is (d) 3

The explanation is: A polynomial of degree 2 is called quadratic polynomial.

Quadratic polynomials are of the form ax^2+bx+c and it can contain at most three terms namely ax^2, bx and c. Thus, we can say that a quadratic polynomial can have at most three terms.

Similarly, a polynomial of degree 1 is called linear polynomial and a polynomial of degree 3 is called cubic polynomial.