Pre-Algebra

You've probably been exposed to the concept of an order of the operations before algebra. Operations are adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, raising to a power, and taking the root. The order we do these things in is very important. Fortunately there's an easy way to remember.

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally is a mnemonic used to remember the order of operations. Just work your way down the list in order. If anything is missing, for example there are no exponents, just skip it and continue to the next item.

1) Parenthesis (or any grouping symbol)

2) Exponents (or roots)

3) Multiplication

4) Division

5) Addition

6) Subtraction

Try working out the problem above in the wrong order just to prove to yourself how important the order of operations really is.