Graphing polynomials is not as difficult as students presume it to be. It is very simple. Polynomials are equations with constants, variables, arithmetic operations, equals-to sign, and exponents. Start by finding the y-intercept. To do this, you need to substitute x with 0 and find the corresponding value of y. The next step is to find the x-intercept. To do this, you substitute the value of y with 0 and find the corresponding value of x. The next step is to find the end behavior. Bring the function into the standard form and examine the leading term. The end behavior describes the behavior of a function's graph at the "ends" of the x-axis. The final step is to sketch the graph.

We will often graph polynomials to understand the nature of the system or process we are studying or exploring. You can solve most of this in seven quick steps. Start by finding the overall degree of the function. You can find the degree by adding all of the exponents in the equation. If a value does not have an exponent, it is considered to be one. The second step is to determine the overall sign of the function (is it positive or negative)? You then find all the zeroes for the function and determine your y intercept. You can then plop digits in there and see what values you end up with. These worksheets explain how to plotting polynomial equations onto coordinate graphs to find roots, zeroes, and estimate solutions. Though examples and formulas are presented, students should already be familiar with this material.