BODMAS - the finer detail
This problem has been appearing on Facebook recently and creating more than a little confusion. While most people agree that whatever is contained in brackets should be calculated first, the big question being asked is whether the multiplication or the division should be calculated next.
Does it matter? Put simply YES! and this question is an example of why.
BODMAS
All questions like this rely on the mathematical order of operations. You can read more about this on one of my previous blogs at http://www.mathsadvantage.com.au/single-post/2017/01/22/Order-of-Operations.
In summary, the mathematical order for calculating equations is BODMAS (also called BOMDAS, BIMDAS, PEDMAS - depending on how you were taught).
For this particular question however, we need to look at the finer detail of BODMAS.
Now for the finer detail
When we are expected to do both division and multiplication in the one equation, which one do first? The answer is that we work them from left to right. Whichever one comes first is the one we do first.
Division or Multiplication = Left to Right
The same principle applies to addition and subtraction. Always left to right.
Addition or Subtraction = Left to Right
Let's look at the answer to our original question:
Did you follow what we did? Brackets first. After that we had both division and multiplication to calculate. We know that we do these from left to right so - division first, then multiplication.
