Jsmitheh wrote:
I found an old maths book the other day and decided to look at it. For some reason these incredibly easy questions make no sense to me.
21 + 32 / (-4) + (-6)
I simplified it as
53 / -10
-5.3
But apparently it's 7, how is this?
You grouped the terms incorrectly. This should be read as:
21 + (32/-4) + (-6)
which comes out to 21 - 8 - 6 = 7
In general / and * are done before + and - in a complex expression.
If there is any doubt, parentheses should be used.
For example what is 8/2*4? It is either 8/2 * 4 ( = 16) or 8/(2*4) ( = 1 ). The parens should be used to resolve ambiguity.
ruveyn