Binomial (polynomial)


In algebra, a binomial is a polynomial that is the sum of two terms, each of which is a monomial. It is the simplest kind of polynomial after the monomials.

Definition

A binomial is a polynomial which is the sum of two monomials. A binomial in a single indeterminate can be written in the form
where and are numbers, and and are distinct nonnegative integers and is a symbol which is called an indeterminate or, for historical reasons, a variable. In the context of Laurent polynomials, a Laurent binomial, often simply called a binomial, is similarly defined, but the exponents and may be negative.
More generally, a binomial may be written as:
Some examples of binomials are:

Operations on simple binomials