Question: How can I help my child solve the complicated math problems that have multiplication, division and addition all in one?
Answer: Students are learning to solve complicated algebra equations at a much earlier age than they did years ago. Unfortunately, for many parents, algebra class was a long time ago, making it hard to provide math help in solving those long equations. The most important thing to remember is the order of operations, that is, making sure that your child does the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in the right order.
An easy way to remember this is by the acronym PEMDAS or the mnemonic "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally." The letters tell you in which order to do the math: parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition and then subtraction. For example, in the following problem:
5 + 4 x (10 + 2) ÷ 3 - 7 you would:
1. Solve the (10 + 2) = 12
2. Look for exponents
3. Move on to multiplication: 5 + 4 x 12 ÷ 3 - 7
4. Complete the division: 5 + 48 ÷ 3 - 7
5. Add: 5 + 16- 7
6. Subtract: 21 -7 = 14