• Order of Operations •
To eliminate confusion when evaluating a mathematical expression, we have some rules of precedence, established at least as far back as the 1500s, called the "order of operations". The "operations" are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, and grouping; the "order" of these operations states which operations take precedence (are taken care of) before which other operations.
- Parentheses (simplify inside them)
- Exponents
- Multiplication and Division (from left to right)
- Addition and Subtraction (from left to right)