Fixes for the degree function #13038

Job	Run time
test (1.6, short, ubuntu-latest)	49m 59s
doctest (1.9, ubuntu-latest)	24m 31s
test (1.6, long, ubuntu-latest)	42m 0s
doctest (1.10, ubuntu-latest)	24m 34s
test (1.9, short, ubuntu-latest)	42m 29s
doctest (nightly, ubuntu-latest)	24m 45s
test (1.9, long, ubuntu-latest)	38m 45s
doctest (1.10, ubuntu-latest, depwarn=error)	24m 46s
test (1.10, short, ubuntu-latest)	37m 26s
doctest (1.10, macOS-14)	15m 19s
test (1.10, long, ubuntu-latest)	39m 25s
test (nightly, short, ubuntu-latest)	21m 59s
test (nightly, long, ubuntu-latest)	40m 26s
test (1.10, short, ubuntu-latest, depwarn=error)	37m 59s
test (1.10, long, ubuntu-latest, depwarn=error)	37m 38s
test (1.10, short, macOS-14)	30m 53s
test (1.10, long, macOS-latest)	54m 52s
	9h 47m 46s

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