BODMAS — Order of Operations Explained
You have probably seen those viral maths problems on social media where everyone argues about the answer. "Is it 16 or 1?" The secret? There IS a correct order to do things, and it is called BODMAS (or BIDMAS).
What Does BODMAS Stand For?
- Brackets — do these first: (3 + 2)
- Orders — powers and square roots: 4², √9
- Division — left to right with multiplication
- Multiplication — left to right with division
- Addition — left to right with subtraction
- Subtraction — left to right with addition
Important: Division and Multiplication have equal priority — just work left to right. Same for Addition and Subtraction.
Golden Rules
- Brackets beat everything — always do them first
- × and ÷ are done BEFORE + and −
- When two operations have the same priority, go left → right
- If in doubt, add extra brackets to make it clearer
Worked Examples
Example 1 — 2 + 3 × 4
Wrong answer: 2 + 3 = 5, then 5 × 4 = 20 ✗
- Multiplication first: 3 × 4 = 12
- Then addition: 2 + 12 = 14
Answer: 14 ✓
Example 2 — (2 + 3) × 4
- Brackets first: (2 + 3) = 5
- Then multiply: 5 × 4 = 20
Answer: 20
See how the brackets change the answer completely! ✓
Example 3 — The Viral Problem: 8 ÷ 2(2 + 2)
- Brackets first: (2 + 2) = 4
- Now we have: 8 ÷ 2 × 4
- ÷ and × have equal priority, so go left to right:
- 8 ÷ 2 = 4
- 4 × 4 = 16
Answer: 16
This one breaks the internet every few months!
Example 4 — 10 − 3² + 4
- Orders first: 3² = 9
- Now: 10 − 9 + 4
- Left to right: 10 − 9 = 1
- Then: 1 + 4 = 5
Answer: 5
Common Mistakes
- Just going left to right and ignoring the order
- Doing addition before multiplication
- Forgetting that × and ÷ have the SAME priority
- Thinking BODMAS means Division always comes before Multiplication — it does not!
Practice Questions
- 5 + 2 × 3
- (5 + 2) × 3
- 12 ÷ 4 + 3 × 2
- 20 − (3 + 7) × 2
- 4² − 6 ÷ 2 + 1
Answers: 1) 11 2) 21 3) 9 4) 0 5) 14