Shelenia Virgo

The What's, Why's, and When's of Order of Operations

I. What is the Order of Operations?

Imagine driving your vehicle to go to work or school. Suddenly, you start hearing
a loud constant noise from the back side of
your vehicle. You park your car to the side of
the road to check what is happening and you
find out your vehicle has a flat tire. You must
get to work or school as soon as possible, so
there is no choice to wait for help. You decide
to change the flat tire. List the steps you must
take to change the flat tire of your vehicle.
Remember about safety!

List steps to change a flat tire:

1.pull over and park car on flat ground

2.get spare and tools
3.use wheel chock to prevent car from rolling
4.loosen lug nuts
5.jack up your car
6.remove lug nuts
7.remove tire
8.put on the spare
9. lower jack
10.tighten lug nuts
11. do a quick check
12.put away tools and supplies

This example illustrates the concept of order of operations. Explain in your own
words what the order of operations is.
II. Why we need the Order of Operations?

Read the following comic strip:

Based on the comic strip, explain why we need the order of operations.

The main reason why we need order of operations is to solve problems and
avoid confusion.
 III. When do we use Order of Operations?

Write an expression that simplifies to 3. Your expression must

contain exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, and at least one
set of parenthesis. Explain the process you would use to simplify the expression.
Use Equation Editor to write and simplify the expression.

2×32×2÷4+6-21

62×2÷4+6-21

36×2÷4+6-21

72÷4+6-21

18+6-21

24-21

Reference:

Image Source for flat tire - http://www.flickr.com/photos/apoptotic/1333823258/