document.write( "Question 1184461: Hello,\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "I have almost completed my assignment however I am stuck on this one because of the brackets -!: would like if someone could walk me through this:\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "136-4[6^2-(8-4)]= \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #815049 by Edwin McCravy(20055)\"\" \"About 
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
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document.write( "PE(MD)(AS).\r\n" );
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document.write( "The P stands for parentheses,\r\n" );
document.write( "The E stands for Exponents.\r\n" );
document.write( "The (MD) is for multiplication or division, whichever comes first going left\r\n" );
document.write( "to right.\r\n" );
document.write( "The (AS) is for addition or subtraction, whichever comes first going left to\r\n" );
document.write( "right.\r\n" );
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document.write( "136-4[6^2-(8-4)]\r\n" );
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document.write( "The \"P\" of PE(MD)(AS) says \"Do the innermost parentheses first. There are\r\n" );
document.write( "parentheses () within parentheses [].  We start with the innermost\r\n" );
document.write( "parentheses, (8-4)\r\n" );
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document.write( "PE(MD)(AS) starts over. There is no parentheses inside that parentheses, so\r\n" );
document.write( "we go to the E for exponents.  There are no exponents inside (8-4), so we\r\n" );
document.write( "go to the (MD) for multiplication/division.  There is neither of those\r\n" );
document.write( "inside (8-4).  So we go to the (AS) for addition/subtraction.  There is indeed\r\n" );
document.write( "a subtraction, 8-4, so we replace the (8-4) by (4), and since there are no\r\n" );
document.write( "operations inside that parentheses, we can drop them and just replace (8-4)\r\n" );
document.write( "by 4 and copy everything else over:\r\n" );
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document.write( "136-4[6^2-4]\r\n" );
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document.write( "PE(MD)(AS) starts over each time. \"Do the innermost parentheses first, which is\r\n" );
document.write( "[6^2-4].  There are no parentheses inside the parentheses [], so we go to\r\n" );
document.write( "the next letter of PE(MD)(AS) which is \"E\" for exponents.  There is an exponent\r\n" );
document.write( "to do there. So [6^2-4] becomes [36-4] so we replace [6^2-4] by [36-4] and\r\n" );
document.write( "copy everything else over:\r\n" );
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document.write( "136-4[36-4]\r\n" );
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document.write( "PE(MD)(AS) starts over. \"Do the innermost parentheses first, which is [36-4].\r\n" );
document.write( "There are no parentheses for \"P\" inside the parentheses [].  So we go to\r\n" );
document.write( "\"E\".  There are no exponents for \"E\", so we go to (MD).  There are no\r\n" );
document.write( "multiplications or divisions, so we go to (AS).  There is a subtraction,\r\n" );
document.write( "so we subtract 36-4 and get [32].  So we replace [36-4] by [32]. We must\r\n" );
document.write( "keep the parentheses around 32 this time because if we were to put 32 next\r\n" );
document.write( "to 4 it would look like 432. So we put [32] in place of [36-4]:\r\n" );
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document.write( "136-4[32]\r\n" );
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document.write( "The \"P\" of PE(MD)(AS) says do the parentheses first [32].  But there is\r\n" );
document.write( "nothing to do inside the parentheses because 32 is just a number.  There are\r\n" );
document.write( "no exponents so we go to (MD) and we find there is a multiplication to do,\r\n" );
document.write( "4[32].\r\n" );
document.write( "So we multiply 4 by 32 and get 128. So we replace 4[32] by 128 and copy\r\n" );
document.write( "everything else over.\r\n" );
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document.write( "136-128\r\n" );
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document.write( "There is no P, E, (MD), so we go to (AS). There is a subtraction, so we do\r\n" );
document.write( "that and the final answer is\r\n" );
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document.write( "8.\r\n" );
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document.write( "Edwin
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