Quandaries and Queries
  

 


I'm trying to solve this question, and I can't seem to remember the rules back from my high school days.
 
(40 x 8 ) / 2 + 55 - 15 =
 
Can you help me with the answer?
 
Cheers,
Andrew
 

 

Hi Andrew,

The precedence order is to first do anything that is inside parentheses, next any exponentiation, then any division, followed by any multiplication and finally additions and subtractions. Some people remember this with the acronym PEDMAS. Thus, for your problem 40 times 8 is inside the parentheses so start with

(40 8 ) / 2 + 55 - 15
= 320/2 + 55 - 15

Now the division

(40 8 ) / 2 + 55 - 15
= 320/2 + 55 - 15
= 160 + 55 - 15

And finally the addition and subtraction

(40 8 ) / 2 + 55 - 15
= 320/2 + 55 - 15
= 160 + 55 - 15
= 200

Harley

 
 

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