How do I know which calculation to do first in questions with multiple operations (e.g. 2 x 3 - 2 x 5)?

In these situations, we can use an acronym called "BIDMAS". BIDMAS stands for: "brackets", "indices", "division", "multiplication", "addition" and "subtraction". This helps us to remember the correct order in which to work calculations out. In the example 2 x 3 - 2 x 5, multiplication comes before subtraction, so we would do: 2 x 3 - 2 x 5 = 6 - 10          = -4

DM
Answered by Dalitso M. Maths tutor

7644 Views

See similar Maths 13 Plus tutors

Related Maths 13 Plus answers

All answers ▸

Simplify (5/x+1) + (6/x-5)


How do I calculate the 100th term of the sequence 15, 8, 1, -6...


Eleven pet owners were asked how many pets they had in total. The results are given below. 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7 - Two more owners are asked how many pets they have. Including their results the mean goes down to 4 but the mode is unchanged from


How do you simplify numbers with powers?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2025 by IXL Learning