Hi Jeth,

The order of operations, sometimes called BEDMAS, says that you perform addition and subtraction last so in this problem you evaluate three terms separately and then, as the last step, add them. The three terms are

-2²
(6 - 9)/(-3)
4 × (-2)

The last term is the easiest, 4 × (-2) = -8.

For the middle term you need first to evaluate what is inside the parentheses, 6 - 9. But 6 - 9 = -3 and thus (6 - 9)/(-3) = (-3)/(-3) = 1.

For the first term you evaluate the exponentiation (power) first and then the negative. So 2² = 4 and hence -2² = -4.

To get the final result add -8, 1 and -4.

Penny