Help with simplifying

[eslaf0]

Hello. I have a problem to simplify, and I'm confused about one step, order of operations. Here's what I have so far:

Simplify

25÷5 (16+8) / (-2^2 +8) -5


25÷5 (24) / (4) -5


25÷5 (6) -5

My question is, do I first divide the 25 by 5 then multiply that by 6 or do I multiply the 5 with 6 first ( since the 6 is still in ( ) . I have come up with two answers.. one is 25 the other answer is -25/6. thank you any help is appreciated.

 

[tkhunny]

Ambiguous notation never helps. That juxtaposition thing to mean multiplication is quite confusing.

Division and Multiplication are defined as having the SAME precedence. When necessary, move left-to-right.

25 / 5 = 5 is first.

5 * 24 = 120 is next

120 / 4 = 30 is next.

 

[eslaf0]

Hi , I think I get what you're saying.. but does it make any difference if I show you how it was written in the book, instead of showing the " / " symbol ?

25÷5 (16+8) -5
......(-2^2 +8)


thank you for your help

 

[tkhunny]

You must be very careful when rewriting. The slightest modification will make quite a difference.

Truthfully, I was torn on -2^2.m In this expression, we have "Unary Minus" and "Exponentiation". In most programming languages I have encoutered, the Unary Minus whoud be a higher precedence, making it (-2)^2 = 4. This is not always the case. It might be -(2^2) = -4. You must be sure youcheck your particular application and instructions.