LESSON: Order of Operations
READ: Evaluating Expressions with Grouping Symbols
Evaluating Numerical Expressions Using Powers and Grouping Symbols
We can also use the order of operations when we have exponent powers and grouping symbols like parentheses. Let’s review where exponents and parentheses fall in the order of operations.Order of Operations
P - parentheses
E - exponents
MD - multiplication or division in order from left to right
AS - addition or subtraction in order from left to right
According to the order of operations parentheses comes first. We always do the work in parentheses first. Then we evaluate exponents.
Example
In this example, we can see that we have four things to look at. We have 1 set of parentheses, addition, subtraction in the parentheses and multiplication. We can evaluate this expression using the order of operations.
Our answer is 6.
What about when we have parentheses and exponents?
Example
We start by using the order of operations. It says we evaluate parentheses first.
$$(3)( 2) = 6$$
$$35 + 3^2 -6(7)$$
Next, we evaluate exponents.
$$3^2=9$$
$$35+9-6(7)$$
Next, we complete multiplication or division in order from left to right. We have multiplication.
Next, we complete addition and/or subtraction in order from left to right.
Our answer is 2.