From the course: Learning Algebra: Pre-Algebra

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Introduction to the order of operations using PEMDAS

Introduction to the order of operations using PEMDAS

From the course: Learning Algebra: Pre-Algebra

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Introduction to the order of operations using PEMDAS

- In this lesson, we're going to use the order of operations in order to evaluate numerical expressions. So what is the order of operations? The order of operations is the order in which you evaluate expressions in order to arrive at the correct solution. Let's take a look at why we need to use the order of operations. We're going to evaluate the problem, three plus two times five, in two different ways. First we're going to evaluate it in the order in which it's presented. So we're going to start by adding three plus two, which is five, and then we're going to multiply five times five, which gives us an answer of 25. Now we're going to evaluate it a different way. We're going to start by multiplying two times five. This is 10. And then I'm going to bring down the plus three, and we're going to add three plus 10, which is 13. Notice that we have the same exact problem, and we came up with two completely different answers. And this is the reason why we need to use the order of…

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