Name: Robert N.
Status: student
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
When were the order of operations introduced into
mathematics?
Replies:
The "order of operations" were not introduced in the sense that some other
order is possible or that the "order of operations" is arbitrary. For
example: 5^2 + 3^2 = 25 + 9 = 34
The powers done first followed by the addition. This is very different than
(5 + 3)^2 = 8^2 = 64
The addition done first, then the powers. Or the latter is: 5^2 +2*5*3 + 3^2
= 25 + 30 + 9 = 64
using the expansion of a binomial. The order of operations is imbedded in
the definition of the various operations.
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