What do polynomial functions look like? And what can be consider a polynomial function? Would a graph that is like an upside down V be considered as a graph of a polynomial function?

3 answers

"poly" is many in Greek and "nomial" means number
so a polynomial is 'several terms'

In highschool mathematics, a polynomial is an expression made up of two or more terms, where each term has an exponent n, so that n is a whole number.

A "graph that is like an upside down V" would be a polynomial, and example would be
f(x) = -x^2 + 3x - 1

The following webpage lets you manipulate the coefficients for different functions to study the effects. Very interesting models.
http://id.mind.net/~zona/mmts/functionInstitute/polynomialFunctions/graphs/polynomialFunctionGraphs.html
write a polynomial function that has given zeros and has a leading coefficient of 1. 2,i,-i
a4b+ a2b3