Exercise 1 Page 144

To determine whether the given expression is a polynomial, recall that a polynomial is the sum of two or more monomials. Every element of our sum is either a number or product of a real number and variable with whole number exponent. Consider the given expression. This expression is a polynomial because each term is a monomial. The degree of a polynomial is the degree of the monomial with the greatest degree, and the coefficient that stands in the front of it is called the leading coefficient. For our polynomial, the $\text{leading}$ $\text{coefficient}$ is $\text{-}3$, the $\text{degree}$ is $4$. Thus, it is a quartic polynomial.