What's the difference between power function and degree?

[ochocki]

I know the both have to do with the extreme behavior of a graph, but they seem to be used interchangeably in my text book. Can someone please explain this to me?

 

[tkhunny]

That's not the most clear question I ever have heard. I'll just shoot out a little list and see if it helps.

Degree 0 -- No Variable -- Constant
Degree 1 -- No Exponent -- Linear
Degree 2 -- Squared in there somewhere -- Quadratic
Degree 3 -- Cubed in there somewhere -- Cubic
Degree 4 -- 4th Power in there somewhere -- Quartic
Degree 5 -- 5th Power in there somewhere -- Quintic
Degree 6 -- 6th Power in there somewhere -- Special Names Deteriorate