Order of Operations

Order or operations is one of the most important topics in mathematics. Order of operations is also known as PEMDAS or BODMAS. As the term suggests, order of operations refers to the steps to perform a mathematical operation. When it is a simple addition or subtraction, you can add or subtract instantly. For example: Sunny bought Nerf guns India from Fisher Price India collection. He already has Angry Birds toys India and Dartboard games.

How many variety of toys and games collection he has in total: Nerf guns + Angry Birds toys India + Dartboard = 3 variety of toys and games. This is addition operation in mathematics. John has three Nerf guns of Fisher Price India brand. He gave one to his cousin Andrew. How many Nerf guns does he have? 3 Nerf guns – 1 Nerf gun = 2 Nerf gun. This is subtraction operation in mathematics. But what do you do when a mathematical expression has more than one operation. For example: Sunny had 3 guns, his father gave him 2 new guns and he gave one to his friend John. How many he has now? Mathematically: (3+2) – 1 = 4. This is a mathematical expression.

While calculating a mathematical expression, it is essential to follow some rules or order of operation. This order of operation is referred to as BODMAS or PEMDAS as abbreviation for the functions in mathematics. The order of operations is expressed as below.
1. [B] Brackets or Parenthesis
2. [O] Orders (Exponents, roots etc)
3. [DM] Division and Multiplication
4. [AS] Addition and Subtraction

The above order of operation states that in a mathematical expression, at first the operation inside brackets needs to be calculated, thereafter the powers, roots and more, then division and multiplication and finally addition and subtraction. This should be the order of operation while simplifying or calculating a mathematical expression.
For example: There are six kids. Father bought one Nerf Guns India and two building block toys for each kid. How many toys father bought in total?
Mathematically, (1+2) x 6
Applying order of operations (1+2) = 3 x 6 = 18
Therefore, father bought 18 toys in total.

This is referred as order of operations or BODMAS in mathematics.