Imagine you're baking cookies, and the recipe says '2 cups of flour plus 3 cups of sugar.' But if someone asks, 'Is it (2 + 3) or is it 2 × 3?,' you might be confused. It's like that with equations, depending on how you group the numbers, you get different answers. If we write it as 2 + 3, you add them. But if we write it as 2 × 3, you multiply them instead.
Examples
- You see
3 + 4 × 2and think, 'Should I add first or multiply?' - You draw a picture of a cake cut into 2 rows with 3 slices each, is that 6 total slices or 1 row of 6?
Ask a question
See also
- What are square roots?
- What are algebraic structures?
- What are variables?
- What is algebra?
- What is 12 34 56 78 9?