advertisement |
free newsletter! tell a friend! contests software reviews bestseller list price survey what's new product support search educational tools ask a scientist math worksheets vocabulary builders hangman iPhone/iPad apps logic games brain food educational insights feature articles marketplace iPhone/iPad apps reading corner movie corner SuperKids home about SuperKids advertise! humor links help * * * Promotions * * * * * * |
math worksheets > >
order of operations > >
quick tips
SuperKids Math ReviewHow to Solve Order of Operations ProblemsAfter learning to add and subtract, multiply and divide, students will encounter equations that combine these operations. For example: 4 + 3 x 5 = ?Is the answer: (4 + 3) x 5 = 7 x 5 = 35? or is it: 4 + (3 x 5) = 4 + 15 = 19? Mathematicians have established a standard way to solve these types of problems, that defines the order in which we solve the different math operations in an equation. An easy way to remember the order is the acronym, PEMDAS.
Problems involving order of operations are answered by first solving anything within parentheses, then dealing with exponents, then multiplication and division (working from left to right), and finally addition and subtraction. And if there are parentheses within parentheses, we work from the inside out. Let's look again at our sample problem: 4 + 3 x 5 = ?Since there are no parentheses, and no exponents, we start by solving the multiplication (3 x 5), and add the result (15) to the remaining element (4), to get 4 + 15 = 19. How about a trickier problem? Well, if you remember PEMDAS, there really are no tricky problems. Here's one that may look harder, but if we follow the PEMDAS order, the answer is easily found: ((4 + 3) x (5 - 2) + 7) ÷ 2 = ? |
|
||||||
Questions or comments regarding this site? webmaster@superkids.com Copyright © 1998-2024 Knowledge Share LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy |