when ur polynomial has more then one variable....and this one does...the degree is the highest term degree
7a^3b^2 ....this term has a degree of 5
2a^4...this term has a degree of 4
4b....this term has a degree of 1
15....this term has a degree of 0
so the highest degree term has a degree of 5....so that is the degree of this polynomial.
now if u just had 1 variable, the degree would be the highest exponent
