I already posted this question and Reiny answered it, I just wanted to clarify my answer

Question

Problem: If f(x) is a polynomial of degree 4, and g(x) is a polynomial of degree 2, then what is the degree of polynomial
f(x)-g(x)?

Reiny: so f(x) has to contain an x^4 term
and g(x) does NOT contain an x^4 term

so what happens to that x^4 term in f(x) when g(x) is subtracted from it ???

My answer: is is x^2? x^4-x^2

Answer 1

Trish, since subtraction only involves "like" terms, and g(x) does not contain any x^4 term, nothing can happen to the x^4 term of f(x)
so your result still contains the x^4 term , and thus is a polynomial of degree 4