= Degree of the zero polynomial
The <zero polynomial> has no nonzero term, so its degree is either left undefined or assigned a special value such as $-\infty$ by convention. A finite program can use $-1$ as a sentinel when all other stored degrees are nonnegative. That representation sentinel is not a general replacement for the extended-arithmetic degree convention; it is enough for testing whether a <polynomial remainder> is zero or has smaller degree than a nonzero divisor.
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