Problem help for Alg1

[E-man1226]

Were reviewing the order of operations. I ran into a problem 4-(-2) over 3. do you divide (-2) by 3 or do you simplify it to 4+2 then to 6 over three and then divide it. It is a test review and I want to do it correctly now rather than get into a bad habit. Thanks.

 

[wjm11]

Were reviewing the order of operations. I ran into a problem 4-(-2) over 3. do you divide (-2) by 3 or do you simplify it to 4+2 then to 6 over three and then divide it.

It’s very important that you group your terms clearly using parentheses in order to avoid confusion. Parentheses also aid in determining order of operations. If your problem has “4 – (-2)” all in the numerator, then show this by parentheses around the numerator and complete the operations in the numerator before dividing by the number in the denominator:

(4 – (-2))/3 = (4 + 2)/3 = 6/3 = 2

If the 4 is not in the numerator:

4 – (-2)/3 = 4 + 2/3 = 12/3 + 2/3 = 14/3