1.1.4

Hierarchy of Operations

Test yourself

BIDMAS

‘BIDMAS’ tells you what order to do 'operations' in.

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B for Brackets

  • Any operations in brackets are done first.
  • Always start with the innermost set of brackets.
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I for Indices

  • Any powers should be done second.
    • For example squaring a number or taking the cube root.

Inverse Operations

Inverse operations are the opposite of each other. If you do one after the other, the number (or answer) won’t change. If inverses appear in a row, you can just cancel them out.

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Addition and subtraction

  • Adding 2 is the inverse of subtracting 2.
  • Adding 10 is the inverse of subtracting 10.
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Multiplication and division

  • Multiplying by a number is the inverse of dividing by the same number.
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Square and square root

  • Squaring a number is the inverse of taking the square root.

Jump to other topics

1Numbers

2Equations, Formulae & Identities

3Sequences, Functions & Graphs

4Geometry

5Vectors & Transformation Geometry

6Statistics & Probability

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