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

5th degree binomial

Note: You can say it's a quintic binomial but I find its easier to go with "5th degree" instead of "quintic" 



How to get this
The degree is the largest exponent for single variable polynomials such as this one. We see that 5 is the largest exponent, so the degree is 5. We consider this a quintic polynomial (think "quintuplets" which is how I remember). Though to be fair, the term "quintic" isn't used too much. Any degree larger than 4 you just state the number followed by "st", "nd", or "th" which is easiest I think. 

This is a binomial because it has 2 terms. The terms are separated by a minus sign or subtraction sign. We can think of it as adding a negative
17n^5 - n^4 = 17n^5 + (-n^4)
The two terms 17n^5 and -n^4 are separated by a plus sign. 
In general, terms of a polynomial are separated by either a plus sign or a minus sign.