to think 2+3x4 must of equaled 20

[penny13610]

Looking at how a teacher marks homework is confusing me

Family - it stands for Brackets Of / Indices Division Multiplication Addition Subtraction and is the method in which you approach equations.

Of and Indices stand for your superscript numbers e.g. 2squared is 4.

Thanks Esmerelda, that was quick! I've never heard of that before. Is power of/indices like 2squared (2 and a little 2)?

Ds is KS3 now, I wish he came home with some kind of textbook so I could help him.Parents evening soon so I might ask for a recommendation.

14. I always follow the BODMAS rule too.

As someone who went to school in the dark aged (£sd and all that) what is BODMAS?

Xpost, thanks WyldChyld (how did you know I wouldn't know that?)

Ignore this. Just seen later post with the answer. Thank God I gave up maths after O-level.

this is good for us adults who struggle with our kids homework

BODMAS has already been explained earlier in the post

Missduke - the point being that rich was the saddo picking up on the English grammar. Feel free to abuse me though.

isn't the O in BODMAS is for orders : squares etc?

See on the grammar thing, not to be a pedantic pain in the bum but WIBU to point out it's "must've"? Rich etc have corrected it to "must have", but people know how to say "must have" - I think it's the contraction that actually gives people the trouble.

So you know, must've not must of, would've not would of etc etc.

OP is probably feeling like she's been dragged into detention by now, sorry

Haha family, it's the one I thought was never as self explanatory as the others despite having A level maths! It was the one which would always trip me up

Let's - yes, you're right. Orders, powers Of, Indices etc. That's why I explained it in my post cause it's a bit jumbled up with what it gets called where's something like addition is always addition

I would have thought the same as you OP, I've learned something new today!

confession
OP has a maths degree.
I thought I would be slated by the grammar police, more than I would be helped by general purpose mathsters.
I am really happy to have lost the bet.
We were having a discussion about girls and stem subjects.

As penance, I shall help out with maths homework questions when I see them.
thanks

Missduke - the point being that rich was the saddo picking up on the English grammar. Feel free to abuse me though.

In fairness, posts about the lack of anyone picking the OP up on their grammar have the same effect as someone actually doing so - you're still drawing attention to it without adding anything constructive to the thread.

toomuchtooold, as you no doubt have no problems with grammar errors being pointed out, can I tell you how many you have made?

Toomuch - thanks for that. Native English speakers' inability to speak English Is difficult I guess.

You know what's really worrying? I went all the way through primary school and high school without this BIDMAS thing getting mentioned. I got an A in maths! I've honestly just had to look it up properly to check that you're not all trolling

A helpful tip...technically it could be BOMDSA because it doesn't matter which order you do division or multiplication, as long as you do them before adding or subtracting.

Eg 100 / 2 x 3 you can do either by doing 100 / 2 to make 50 them multiplying by 3 to give the answer 150 or you could do 100 x 3 to give 300 then divide by 2 to make 150. It makes some sums a lot easier to do if you know you can do the multiplying and division in either order and get the same answer.

Same with adding and subtracting, 10 + 3 - 2 = 10 - 2 + 3 = - 2 + 10 + 3

For the sum 10 x 4 / 2 + 6 / 3 you have to do all the division and multiplying first before the adding and subtracting.
So the answer would be 20 + 2 = 22.

Don't worry op there are loads of people that find maths hard or just struggle to remember how to do things they haven't done in a while. The bbc bitesize website is really good for explaining things and practising questions.

dojo. You're right. I've been hugely rude.

I thought I would be slated by the grammar police, more than I would be helped by general purpose mathsters.

Right. So you are basically wasting people's time by playing a silly game with yourself?

Drank, if there are any where you think I'm not aware of the correct usage, by all means get stuck in. I was actually trying to be helpful - when I first saw "would of" written down I knew it was the right way to say it but the wrong way to write it, and it took me a minute to figure it out.

purple If your sum was written like this:

100÷2×3

What would I do? If I do the multiplication first, I end up trying to do 100÷6?
I am now very confused

splodges divide and multiply are both as important as each other, so do the sum sentence style. ie start at the front.
purple is a bit ahead of you and has learnt to take a few liberties.