Math Lesson 1.4.1 - Order of Operation in Arithmetic Expressions Containing Only Addition and Subtraction

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Welcome to our Math lesson on Order of Operation in Arithmetic Expressions Containing Only Addition and Subtraction, this is the first lesson of our suite of math lessons covering the topic of Order of Operations and PEMDAS Rule, you can find links to the other lessons within this tutorial and access additional Math learning resources below this lesson.

Order of Operation in Arithmetic Expressions Containing Only Addition and Subtraction

Addition and subtraction are arithmetic operations of the same order of priority. This means that if an arithmetic expression contains only additions and subtractions, we calculate operations from left to right, regardless of the operation involved. Let's consider a couple of examples to clarify this point.

Example 1

Calculate the value of the following arithmetic expressions

21 - 6 + 12 - 8 =
14 + 5 - 6 + 13 - 12 =

Solution 1

As we discovered above, we complete the operations from left to right. We have
21 - 6 + 12 - 8
= 15 + 12 - 8
= 27 - 8
= 19
Again, since the expression contains only additions and subtractions, we complete the operations from left to right. We have
14 + 5 - 6 + 13 - 12
= 19 - 6 + 13 - 12
= 13 + 13 - 12
= 26 - 12
= 14

More Order of Operations and PEMDAS Rule Lessons and Learning Resources

Arithmetic Learning Material
Tutorial ID	Math Tutorial Title	Revision Notes	Revision Questions
1.4	Order of Operations and PEMDAS Rule
Lesson ID	Math Lesson Title	Lesson	Video Lesson
1.4.1	Order of Operation in Arithmetic Expressions Containing Only Addition and Subtraction
1.4.2	Order of Operation in Arithmetic Expressions Containing Only Multiplications and Division
1.4.3	Expressions Containing Additions, Subtractions, Multiplications and Divisions
1.4.4	Expressions Containing Exponents
1.4.5	Expressions Containing Brackets. PEMDAS Rule
1.4.6	Types of Parenthesis and Their Order of Priority
1.4.7	Working with Negative Numbers
1.4.8	Powers of Negative Numbers

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