Classify the polynomial by its degree and by the number of terms. 17n^5-n^4

.  The degree of a polynomial is equal to the highest exponent on a single term.  17n has an exponent of 5 and n has an exponent of 4, so our degree is the higher of the two which is 5.  So this is a fifth degree polynomial.  "Polynomial" is a generic term for a many termed expression.  Ours happens to have 2 terms so we would classify it as a binomial.  If it only 1 term it would be a monomial, if it had 3 it would be a trinomial.  Higher than that we just revert back to polynomial to classify.