Start by distributing the negative sign
[tex]6w^2+24w+24-3w^2+26w-3[/tex]Then group terms that have the same literal parts
[tex]\begin{gathered} (6w^2-3w^2)+(24w+26w)+(24-3) \\ \text{The resulting operation simplifies to} \\ 3w^2+50w+21 \\ \text{the degree of the polynomial is 2 since its the highest exponent.} \end{gathered}[/tex]