Math Order of Operations

Math Order of Operations is a generally agreed upon rule of which calculation comes first in an expression.

• It tells us the order that we must use when evaluating numerical expressions with two or more operations

The rules:

• Do calculations inside parentheses or brackets
• Calculate any indicated powers
• Perform any multiplications and/or divisions, in order, from left to right
• Perform any additions  and/or subtractions, in order, from left to right

Students generally follow PEMDAS (or Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally)

Parenthesis
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

Basically follow these steps (same as the rules above)

1. Calculate everything inside parentheses
2. Calculate exponents: x2
3. Calculate multiplications and divisions from left to right
4. Finally, calculate the additions and subtractions from left to right

   Example:
   

   5 × (3 +4²) - 2 × 8
   

   5 × (3 + 16) - 2 × 8
   

   5 x 19 – 2 x 8
   

   95 – 16

   Answer: 79

Math Order of Operations - Back to Learn Algebra
Order of Operations - Back to SG Learn Online