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Depending on which part of the world you are from you have probably heard of some expression such as
BEDMAS, BODMAS, PEMDAS, etc. when talking about order of operations. You might have even learned a
great little phrase to help you remember such as “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” or “Big Elephants
Destroy Mice And Snails”. What does all this have to do with math? Let’s break it down a bit.
There are 3 main operations that we can use to combine and use numbers. They are:
1. Addition
2. Multiplication
3. Exponentiation
Now based on our experience with numbers we all know that for each of these three operations there
must be another one that “undoes” it. In other words, these all have to have an inverse operation. You
can guess two of them easily, but the third you probably won’t see until high school. They are:
1. Subtraction (‘undoes’ addition)
2. Division (‘undoes’ multiplication)
3. Logarithms (‘undoes’ exponentiation)
Let’s put these inverse operations together with the original ones to create three groups of operations:
1. Addition and Subtraction
2. Multiplication and Division
3. Exponentiation and Logarithms
But wait, aren’t addition and subtraction totally different things? Why do they go in the same group?
The answer is because they are fundamentally the same operation, just in a different direction. For
example think about the movement of walking. You can walk forward or walk backward but either way
you are still walking. You are not riding a bike or driving, you are walking. Walking forward is like addition
and walking backwards is like subtraction….it’s the same action, just in a different direction.
OK, so then why can’t we put multiplication with addition…aren’t they kind of the same too?
Think about our example of walking again. Let’s compare it to another movement such as riding your bike.
They have a lot of things in common in terms of the leg motions involved, but when it really comes down
to it, they are very different types of movement.
Same thing with addition and multiplication, they have some really nice patterns in common, but there
are certain things that multiplication can do that you just can’t do with addition. As a result we have to put
4
⋅π ⋅ r3
them in separate categories. (For example take the volume of a sphere You can’t really use
3
addition to describe this easily)
The same is true about the third group. You can think of exponents like driving a car. It has a little bit in
common with walking, but not really. It has a lot more in common with riding a bike (such as wheels and
steering) but driving is still a very different process.
Same thing applies with exponentiation. It is similar in a number of ways to multiplication but when it
comes down to the details of how it works, it can do things that just don’t make sense by using
multiplication. (Plus you usually don’t get to use it until you are 16 ☺)
And so we have three categories:
1. Walking (Addition and Subtraction)
2. Riding a Bike (Multiplication and Division)
3. Driving a Car (Exponentiation and Logarithms)
You can do each one forward or backward and all three are similar in many ways but are still
fundamentally very different.
What we have just listed here is the basics of order of operations. Any time you have a mathematical
expression with a bunch of different operations in it you have to think about the operations in these 3
groups. For example:
23 + 5 − 6 ⋅ 3 + 10 ÷ 2 − 1
There is a lot of stuff happening in this expression and because each of these operations acts very
differently, you have to treat them all very differently.
You cannot just work it out from left to right like you’ve done in the past!!
Go through each number and notice which type of operation you are dealing with: Driving, Riding a Bike,
or Walking. You can’t do these things at the same time so you have to do each part separately. This brings
us to
Rule #1 for order of operations:
1. You have to start with the most powerful items first and work your way to the weakest.
Exponents/Logarithms Multiplication/Division Addition/Subtraction
(In other words: drive first, then ride your bike, then walk)
So going back to our example, let’s look at how we would solve this: 2
3
+ 5 − 6 ⋅ 3 + 10 ÷ 2 − 1
Start with the most powerful operations – exponents and logarithms.
23 + 5 − 6 ⋅ 3 + 10 ÷ 2 − 1
We know that 2 = 8 so we can rewrite our expression as:
3
8 + 5 − 6 ⋅ 3 + 10 ÷ 2 − 1
After that just go to the next most powerful – multiplication and division:
8 + 5 − 6 ⋅ 3 + 10 ÷ 2 − 1
If we do these operations we end up with a new expression:
2 + 5 − 18 + 5 − 1
Now we are at our last group of operations – addition and subtraction. How do we tell which one to do
first? Does it matter?
The answer is yes…it does matter how you do them. Technically, it really does not make a difference if you
do subtraction first or addition first since they are essentially the same thing but people make a lot of
mistakes when they mix up the order so let’s just agree on one way that will always work.
Rule #2 for order of operations:
2. If you have more than one item from the same category, just calculate them in order from left to
right.
So in the case of our problem we are left with both addition and subtraction, so we will work from left to
right, one pair of numbers at a time.
2 + 5 − 18 + 5 − 1
= 7 − 18 + 5 − 1
= − 11 + 5 − 1
= − 6 −1
= −7
Therefore 2
3
+ 5 − 6 ⋅ 3 + 10 ÷ 2 − 1 = −7 .
Let’s try another. Remember the 3 different categories and work your way through them, starting from
most powerful to least powerful.
(5 + 2 ⋅ 7) − 8 ÷ (6 − 2 ⋅ 8 ÷ 4) + 3
2 2
Wait a minute…you never told me about parenthesis! What do I do with those?
Here’s the last rule for order of operations:
Rule #3 for order of operations:
3. Groups are the most powerful item in an expression. They are more important than all the other
operations. If you have items grouped together with parenthesis do these first.
************************************* Side Note *************************************
Parentheses are not the only way to group things. There are other ways to group numbers, you just might
not have seen them yet. Below are some examples of ways to group the expression 2 ⋅ 4 + 1 :
7
2 ⋅ 4 +1 sin(2 ⋅ 4 + 1) 2 ⋅ 4 +1 ln(2 ⋅ 4 + 1)
2 ⋅ 4 +1
**************************************************************************************
So back to our example, look for the groups first then we can go through our list of other operations:
(5 + 2 ⋅ 7) − 8 ÷ (6 − 2 ⋅ 8 ÷ 4) + 3
2 2
We have two groups, (5 + 2 ⋅ 7) and (6 − 2 ⋅ 8 ÷ 4) . Let’s go through them one at a time.
Remember our order: Exponents/Logarithms then Multiplication/Division then Addition/Subtraction
(5 + 2 ⋅ 7) becomes (5 + 14) which is 19
(6 − 2 ⋅ 8 ÷ 4) becomes (6 − 16 ÷ 4) which becomes (6 − 4) which is 2
(notice we did the multiplication/division from left to right)
After taking care of the groups we now have:
19 − 82 ÷ 2 + 32
Now we go through the same pattern again. Start with the exponents, then multiplication/division then do
the addition/subtraction last.
RECALL: If you have more than one of the same group just do them from left to right.
Exponents/Logarithms 19 − 82 ÷ 2 + 32
= 19 − 64 ÷ 2 + 9
Multiplication/Division 19 − 64 ÷ 2 + 9
= 19 − 32 + 9
• If you have more than one item from the same category, just calculate them in order from left
to right.
Maybe now those phrases in the beginning make a little more sense:
Brackets Exponents Division/Multiplication Addition/Subtraction (BEDMAS)
Parentheses Exponents Multiplication/Division Addition/Subtraction (PEMDAS)
These are great ways to remember the order, but don’t forget about how to use them. That’s the
important part. Good luck!
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