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| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
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Question from christina, a parent: hi my question that's been bothering me is what's |
Hi Christina,
The parentheses tell you what to do first. In evaluating a mathematical expression we always perform the operations inside the parentheses first. You have
\[(3 \times 6) + \left(\frac{12}{2}\right) - 8\]
Inside the first set of parentheses is $3 \times 6$ so perform the multiplication to get $18.$ Inside the second set of parentheses is $\large \frac{12}{2}$ so perform the division to get $6.$ hence you expression becomes
\[(3 \times 6) + \left(\frac{12}{2}\right) - 8 = 18 + 6 - 8.\]
Finally $18 + 6 - 8 = 16.$
Penny
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