Answer:
perhaps 4
Step-by-step explanation:
What you have written is a linear expression, which has degree 1.
-8z -397
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We recognize that people often write z4 when they mean z^4, so our first level of "interpretation" suggests that you might intend ...
523 -2z^4 -922 +2 = -z^4 -397
The only exponent of the only variable here is 4, so the degree is 4.
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The next level of "interpretation" suggests that you might have written 2 where you mean z, and the expression is supposed to be ...
5z^3 -2z^4 -9z^2 +2
Since we don't expect to see more than one constant term, this "interpretation" seems to make the most sense to us. Here, there is still only one variable, and its exponents are 3, 4, and 2. The largest of these is 4, so the degree of the polynomial is 4.
