Orders and Operations

• “Orders and Operations” refers to the sequence in which calculations in a mathematical expression should be carried out.
• BIDMAS/BODMAS is an acronym used to remember the order of operations: Brackets, Indices/Powers or Order, Division and Multiplication (from left to right), Addition and Subtraction (from left to right).
• Always perform operations in brackets first, no matter their positioning in the equation.
• After brackets, treat powers or indices next. Review exponents (squared, cubed etc.) and roots (square root, cube root etc.) calculations.
• Division and multiplication are on the same ‘tier’. They should be solved from left to right in the equation or expression.
• The last operations you should handle are addition and subtraction (again, left-to-right).
• If single numbers appear next to brackets, this implies multiplication. For example, 2(3+4) equals 2*7=14.
• A common pitfall is to incorrectly conduct operations from right-to-left or forgetting to handle operations in brackets first. Ensure you can accurately apply BIDMAS/BODMAS to avoid these errors.
• Practice using the order of operations with fractions, decimals and negative numbers to enhance your understanding.
• Algebra also uses the rules of order of operations. Remember that letters (variables) can take the place of unknown numbers.
• Applying the rules of order consistently ensures that you always carry out calculations correctly, which is key to success in your Numbers revision.