Answer :

To find the degree of a polynomial, we need to look for the term with the highest exponent of the variable.

Let's examine the polynomial:

[tex]\[ 7x^6 - 6x^5 + 2x^3 + x - 8 \][/tex]

1. Identify each term's degree:
- The first term is [tex]\( 7x^6 \)[/tex]. It has a degree of 6.
- The second term is [tex]\( -6x^5 \)[/tex]. It has a degree of 5.
- The third term is [tex]\( 2x^3 \)[/tex]. It has a degree of 3.
- The fourth term is [tex]\( x \)[/tex]. It is equivalent to [tex]\( x^1 \)[/tex], so it has a degree of 1.
- The last term is [tex]\(-8\)[/tex], which is a constant and has a degree of 0.

2. Find the highest degree:
- Among the degrees mentioned above (6, 5, 3, 1, and 0), the highest is 6.

Therefore, the degree of the polynomial [tex]\( 7x^6 - 6x^5 + 2x^3 + x - 8 \)[/tex] is 6.