Does Division Come Before Multiplication?

No, division does not inherently come before multiplication; they have equal precedence within the order of operations.

Understanding the Order of Operations

The order of operations, often remembered by acronyms like BODMAS (Brackets, Orders, Division and Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction) or PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, Addition and Subtraction), dictates the sequence in which mathematical operations are performed. Crucially, division and multiplication have the same level of priority. This means they are executed from left to right in the expression.

When to Divide First

According to the reference, "...the correct answer would be the first answer as it follows the rules of BODMAS: division can be done before multiplication...". This highlights that if division appears to the left of multiplication in an expression, it is performed first.

Examples

To better illustrate this, consider these examples:

• Example 1: 20 / 5 * 2

  • Following the left-to-right rule for division and multiplication, first, divide: 20 / 5 = 4.
  • Then multiply: 4 * 2 = 8.
  • Therefore, the answer is 8.

• Example 2: 20 * 2 / 5

  • Multiply first (left to right): 20 * 2 = 40.
  • Then divide: 40 / 5 = 8.
  • The answer here is also 8.

Key Takeaways

• Division and multiplication share the same priority within the order of operations.
• Perform division and multiplication from left to right as they appear in the expression.
• The order they appear matters; the operation on the left is done before the operation on the right.
• The reference explicitly states "division can be done before multiplication" based on the rules of BODMAS.