CHAPTER3 Order of Operations and Integers
In This Chapter
- The rules for the order of
operations - Using grouping symbols to
make tasks clearer - Applying the distributive
property - Using negative numbers to
represent opposites - Finding absolute value
- Performing operations
with integers
In the previous chapter, we focused on arithmetic that
used whole numbers. The whole numbers are the counting
numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on) and zero, or the set {0, 1, 2,
3, 4, 5 ...}. It’s time now to look at some of the rules about
how you should approach more complicated problems. In
this chapter, we’ll look at the order of operations and at what
people do when they don’t want you to follow those rules.
You’ve already encountered the commutative property and
the associative property, the rules that let you rearrange a
problem that’s all addition or all multiplication. Because your
problems aren’t always one operation, it’s time to meet the
distributive property, which will give you some options for
dealing with addition and multiplication in the same problem
and help with mental math along the way.
The set of whole numbers may contain infinitely many
numbers, but even the whole numbers aren’t big enough to
express all the ideas people have about numbers, so in this
chapter you’ll get acquainted with a set of numbers called the
integers. These positive and negative numbers let you express
ideas of opposites and give you a way to answer questions you
might have once been told were impossible.