5 * 4 divided by 2 - 4² Replace the 5 * 4 by 20 20 divided by 2 - 4² Using PEMDAS, we do the exponentential 4² first and get 16. So we replace the 4² by 16, and we have 20 divided by 2 - 16 Now we combine the 2 and the -16 and get -14, so we replace the 2 - 16 by -14, and now we have: 20 divided by -14 Now "divided by" means OVER, so we put 20 OVER -14: 20 ----- -14 That's a postive divided by a negative so the answer will be negative, so we can put a negative sign out front: 20 - ----- 14 and then we reduce the fraction to lowest terms by dividing numerator and denominator by 2 10 - ---- 7 You can leave it that way because in algebra, "improper" fractions are quite "proper". LOL Edwin