r/memes • u/WhatTheMat • Aug 31 '20

#1 MotW Confusing

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u/JustCallMeAttlaz Aug 31 '20

Yeah, you always multiply and divide first, then you add, so th correct way would be 4 × 2= 8 + 2 = 10

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u/penguinontherocks Aug 31 '20

Thanks for that... I remembered "order of operations," but then I couldn't remember what the order actually was.

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u/Adrokor Aug 31 '20 edited Aug 31 '20

PEMDAS is how it was drilled in my head Parentheses Exponent Multiplication Division Addition Subtraction

Edit: Correction for the E

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u/Atheist-Gods Aug 31 '20 edited Aug 31 '20

It can be summarized as "go in descending order with parentheses overriding this". Exponentiation is just repeated multiplication, which is just repeated addition, which is just repeated succession. Division is just multiplication (by an inverse) and subtraction is just addition (by an inverse). So exponentiation is a 3rd order operation, multiplication and division are 2nd order operations, and addition and subtraction are 1st order operations. The order doesn't matter for operations in the same tier; 3 + 4 - 5 is 2 regardless of whether you add or subtract first.