8 Formulas

Before diving in to this topic, you first need to learn about the order in which you need to carry out operations. Have you ever seen a question like the one below posted on social media?

There are usually a wide variety of answers given by various people. But how is it possible that such a simple calculation could cause so much confusion? It’s all to do with the order in which you carry out the calculations.

• If you go from left to right:

  • 7 + 7 = 14

  • 14 ÷ 7 = 2

  • 2 + 7 = 9

  • 9 × 7 = 63

  • 63 − 7 = 56

The correct answer however, is actually 50. How do you arrive at this answer? You have to use the correct order of operations, sometimes called BIDMAS.