No, multiplication and division have equal priority.
Understanding Order of Operations
The order of operations, often remembered by acronyms like PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction) or BODMAS (Brackets, Orders, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction), dictates the sequence in which calculations are performed. A common misconception is that multiplication always precedes division, or vice versa. This is incorrect.
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Equal Precedence: Multiplication and division hold the same level of precedence. Similarly, addition and subtraction also have equal precedence.
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Left-to-Right Rule: When faced with a calculation involving only multiplication and division (or only addition and subtraction), the operations are performed from left to right.
Examples
Let's illustrate with examples:
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Example 1: 10 ÷ 2 × 5 = ?
Following the left-to-right rule, we first perform the division (10 ÷ 2 = 5), then the multiplication (5 × 5 = 25). The answer is 25, not 1.
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Example 2: 6 × 3 ÷ 2 = ?
Again, working left to right, we multiply first (6 × 3 = 18), then divide (18 ÷ 2 = 9). The answer is 9.
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Example 3: 12 ÷ 3 × 4 + 2 = ?
Following the order of operations (division and multiplication before addition), the calculation is as follows: (12 ÷ 3) × 4 + 2 = 4 × 4 + 2 = 16 + 2 = 18
The references provided support this interpretation. Multiple sources explicitly state that multiplication and division have equal priority and are executed from left to right. Claims suggesting one operation takes precedence over the other are inaccurate. While some sources might present examples where division appears to come before multiplication, this is only because of the left-to-right execution order.
