Order of Operations

In your everyday life, there are some tasks that must be done in a particular order. For example, when getting dressed, you always put your socks on before your shoes. It just doesn't work out if you put your shoes on before your socks. In mathematics, the same is true. There is an agreed-upon set of priorities when doing calculations with more than one operation. For example, consider the problem 5 + 2 / 2. Should we add first or divide? The rule of Order of Operations makes it clear that we should divide first. The order of operations states Parenthesis, then Exponents, then Multiplication and Division in order from left to right, and finally Addition and Subtraction in order from left to right. You may have heard of the acronym PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally) to help remember this order. Please (Parenthesis) Excuse (Exponents) My (Multiplication) Dear (Division) Aunt (Addition) Sally (Subtraction). Watch this video to learn exactly how this works.