From the course: Preparing for the GMAT

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Order of operations

Order of operations

From the course: Preparing for the GMAT

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Order of operations

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- [Instructor] Another math skill we need to talk about for the GMAT is Order of Operations; in other words, which operation must be done first when you're presented with more than one at a time. You may remember this acronym. It's called PEMDAS. PEMDAS stands for Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract. Hopefully that helps you remember. A lot of people remember that as Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. You can make up anything you want to help you remember that order if you don't already know it. What does this mean? Parentheses always come before Exponents. These are always first. Exponents are second. Multiply and Divide are tied for third, and Add and Subtract are tied for fourth. What I mean by tied is that neither one of them has priority over the other one, but you always go from left to right, when you have the choice. Let's look at an example. Let's say that I had three times two plus five to the second plus four, and I had to deal with that. I have to…

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