- Raising to a power (3^3 )
- Finding a square root ( )
If you’re like most students, you probably haven’t paid much serious attention to these topics since junior
high school. You’ll need to learn about them again if you want to do well on the SAT. By the time you take
the test, using them should be automatic. All the arithmetic concepts are fairly basic, but you’ll have to
know them cold. You’ll also have to know when and how to use your calculator, which will be quite
helpful.
What Do You Get?
You should know the following arithmetic terms:
- The result of addition is a sum or total.
- The result of subtraction is a difference.
- The result of multiplication is a product.
- The result of division is a quotient.
- In the expression 5^2 , the 2 is called an exponent.
The Six Operations Must Be Performed in the Proper Order
Very often, solving an equation on the SAT will require you to perform several different operations, one
after another. These operations must be performed in the proper order. In general, the problems are
written in such a way that you won’t have trouble deciding what comes first. In cases in which you are
uncertain, you need to remember only the following sentence:
Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally;
she limps from left to right.That’s PEMDAS, for short. It stands for Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and
Subtraction. First, do any calculations inside the parentheses; then take care of the exponents; then
perform all multiplication and division, from left to right, followed by addition and subtraction, from left
to right.
The following drill will help you learn the order in which to perform the six operations. First, set up the
equations on paper. Then, use your calculator for the arithmetic. Make sure you perform the operations in
the correct order.
Do It Yourself
Some calculators
automatically take order
of operations into account,
and some don’t. Either
way, you can very easily
go wrong if you are in
the habit of punching
in long lines of arithmetic