Teacher to Teacher

A New Approach O to an Old Order

SANJAY RAMBHIA

we teach in the mathematics and prealgebra curricula is the concept of order of operations. However, it is a concept that many students consistently forget from year to year. Students invariably solve problems from left to right, regardless of the hierarchy associated with the operations. This article outlines a new approach to teaching this important concept.

NE OF THE MANY IMPORTANT IDEAS THAT

Traditional and New Approaches

TO BEGIN TEACHING THE ORDER OF OPERATIONS

in my eighth-grade prealgebra classes, I write a relatively easy problem on the board: 14 + 6(3) = _______ Approximately half the students answer 60 and the other half answer 32. I hand out calculators to two of the students. One is a scientific calculator and the other, a basic-level calculator; both the answers of 60 and 32 are confirmed. I then present a word problem and ask for answers: Joan has $14, and she collects $6 from three of her friends. How much money does she now have? Most of the students correctly see that she should have $32. Returning to the original problem, most students now agree that the answer to the problem is 32. I use this strategy to introduce the concept of order of operations and the importance of understanding the proper use of calculators when doing mathematics. I am sure that many teachers around the country approach this topic similarly. My goal for my students, however, is to go much further with order of operations than this simple exercise. My goal is to have students solve problems like the following, which I have used on tests for extra credit: 36 3[(20 16)(5 + 3)] 4 42 5(6) 2(10 2) = _______ + 5(3) 2 7 8 4 and 5[(14 18)(3 + 5)] 7(12 18) + (4 6)3 = _____
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SANJAY RAMBHIA , sanj952@aol.com, is currently teaching at Farmington High School in Farmington, CT 06032. Previously, he taught eighth-grade mathematics at Griswold Middle School in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, where he served as department supervisor.

V O L . 8 , N O . 4 . DECEMBER 2002 Copyright 2002 The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc. www.nctm.org. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed electronically or in any other format without written permission from NCTM.

When I first started teaching, I introduced order of operations as I was taught the concept, using the phrase Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. This familiar phrase helps students remember to do operations in parentheses before exponents and multiplication and division before addition and subtraction. Many students come to believe, however, that the phrase also means that multiplication is done before division and that addition is more important than subtraction. For this reason, students are also taught an exception to the phrase; that is, that operations of multiplication and division (or addition and subtraction) are performed in the order that they appear, from left to right. In essence, this exception complicates an otherwise easily remembered and applied mnemonic device. To simplify the concept, I began to teach order of operations using a table format, as shown in table 1. I explain that the higher up the chart an operation is, the more important it is and that it must be done first. If operations appear on the same level, then they are of equal importance and, therefore, must be done as they appear (from left to right) in the problem. I include more than just parentheses in level 1 to explain that multiple grouping symbols must be done from the inside out to obtain a single answer. As we proceed through the year, I add other grouping symbols to level 1, such as absolute value bars and the fraction bar. TABLE 1 Order of Operations Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 { [ ( ) ] }all grouping symbols exponents multiplication and division addition and subtraction

should be done second? How many parts does this problem have? What separates the problem into parts? We work through these questions as we look at the problem. I then show students how they can separate the problem into parts by drawing lines: 14 14 + + 6(3) = 18 = 32

A slightly more difficult problem would be this equation: 6(3 + 5) 4(8) + 5(6 + 1) = _____ Some students feel overwhelmed by such problems until I remind them to separate the problem into parts. They start to understand that because addition and subtraction are done last, those operations are the keys to breaking down the problem. Specifically, the addition or subtraction signs that are not enclosed in grouping symbols partition the problem. The problem above, for example, has three parts, as shown below: 6(3 + 5) 6(8) 48 48 4(8) 4(8) 32 32 + + + + 5(6 + 1) = 5(7) = 35 = 35 = 51

How many parts are in the following problem?

9(7 + 2) 3[(4 + 1) + (12 8)] + 8(5 2) = ______ 6

Three parts is correct. This problem can be separated into parts by looking for addition and subtraction signs that are not inside grouping symbols.
9(7 + 2) 3[(4 + 1) + (12 8)] + 8(5 2) = ______ 6

If I want my students to be able to solve a complex problem, such as

9(7 + 2) 2[(4 + 1) + (12 8)] + 8(5 2) = ______, 6

To solve this problem, compute each section independently. Start with the first section.
9(7 + 2) 3[(4 + 1) + (12 8)] + 9(9) 81 8(5 2) = ______ 6

I begin by having them analyze simple problems, such as the one in the introduction: 14 + 6(3) = _____ How many operations are in the problem? What operation should be done first, and what operation
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MATHEMATICS TEACHING IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Move to the second section.

9(7 + 2) 3[(4 + 1) + (12 8)] + 9(9) 81 81 3[5 + 4] 3[9] 27

8(5 2) = ______ 6

Finally, perform the final operations. 81 27 + 4 = 58

Conclusion
WHEN STUDENTS LEARN THAT COMPLEX

Then, calculate the third section.

9(7 + 2) 3[(4 + 1) + (12 8)] + 9(9) 81 81 3[5 + 4] 3[9] 27 + + + 8(5 2) = 6 8(3) = 6 24 = 6 4 = ______

mathematics problems can be broken down into much simpler problems, the feeling of being overwhelmed is diminished. Organizing the order of operations into a table format allows students to remember and apply the hierarchical rules of order of operations more proficiently than traditional methods. I have had more students successfully apply the concept of order of operations when I combine both methods in my teaching.

V O L . 8 , N O . 4 . DECEMBER 2002

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