LESSON 1 Order of Operations

An operation is work that someone or something does. When a surgeon takes out an appendix, he or she performs an operation. People who use cranes and bulldozers operate heavy machinery. If a vending machine is broken, then we say it is not operating.

Operations are also things that are done to numbers. You could say that operations are the work that you do with numbers. The four basic operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. People have agreed on a certain order of operations for arithmetic problems. Which operation you perform first in an arithmetic problem is very important. You can see why in the problems below.

Mrs. Dewey brought raisins to the class picnic. There are six boxes of raisins in each snackpack.