Order of Operations

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Order of Operations

• By Tonja Rivers

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Please Excuse
My
Dear
Aunt Sally



3
P
Parentheses () braces or brackets
4
E
Exponents or powers
5
M
Multiplication or Division from left to right
6
D
Division or Multiplication from left to right
7
A
Addition or Subtraction from left to right
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S
Subtraction or addition from left to right
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• Solve your problem from left to right.
  Working any portion of the problem in parentheses
  first.
• Example 102-4/2(9-3)x2
• In this example what would you do first?
• You would solve (9-3) first , because it is in
  parentheses. It does not matter what the
  operation is in the parentheses.

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Now you have the following 102-4/2(9-3)x2 10
2-4/2(6)x2
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• Continuing with the same problem
• 102-4/2(6)x2
• What would you do next?
• You would take care of any exponents or powers in
  the problem.
• 102 which is 10x10 100

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So far we have the following 102-4/2
(6)x2 100-4/2(6)x2
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• The third step would be to look for any
  multiplication or division
• from left to right.
• 100-4/2(6)x 2
• So, what would you do next? Remembering PEMDAS
  only will not help you . You must also remember
  to work from left to right with multiplication
  and division.
• Therefore, you must work the division before the
  multiplication in this problem since it appears
  first.

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At this point you should have the
following 100-2(6)X2 100-212
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Now you should have the following 100-2(6)x2
Now I am sure you know what the next step would
be.
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Thats right multiplication. Does your problem
look like this? 100-212
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• You final steps will always be addition or
  subtraction. Remember from left to right.
• Since subtraction comes first in the problem you
  will work it before the addition.
• Now you should have the following
• 100-212
• What would you do next? If you only follow PEMDAS
  you would miss this problem. REMEMBER left to
  right.
• 100-2 should be your next step.
• You would work the subtraction first since it
  appears first and save the addition as your final
  step.

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100-212 9812
Your final step in this problem will be
addition. You would add 9812 Your final answer
should be 110.
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Now , lets work the entire problem from the
beginning. 102-4/2(9-3)x2 102-4/2(6)x2 100-4/
2(6)x2 100-2(6)x2 100-212 9812 110 Remember
to rewrite your problem after each step and it
will help you keep up with what you need to do
next.
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These are a few websites where you can go to
play online games and practice order
of operations.
http//www.funbrain.com/algebra/index.html
http//www.aaamath.com/pro73c-order-of-operations.
html
http//classroom.jc-schools.net/basic/math-order.h
tml
http//www.dositey.com/math/m/mystery1AM.htm