<PRE><B>Question 289826</B>
This problem concerns the &lt;i&gt;Order of Operations&lt;/i&gt;, and is &lt;b&gt;crucial&lt;/b&gt; to any type of mathematics. &lt;br&gt;

In a week or two, this will become second nature to you, but for now write this down somewhere so you&#39;ll always have it available:

&lt;b&gt;PEMDAS&lt;/b&gt;	Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (mnemonic for order of operations for evaluating math expressions)
&lt;b&gt;PEMDAS&lt;/b&gt;	&lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br&gt;
So we do everything inside parenthesis first:
3 - 2(&lt;b&gt;4 + 8&lt;/b&gt;) ÷ 3 = 3 - 2(12) ÷ 3 &lt;br&gt;
Multiplication and division are both at the same level, so do them in sequence from left to right:
3 - &lt;b&gt;2(12)&lt;/b&gt; ÷ 3 = 3 - &lt;b&gt;24 / 3&lt;/b&gt; = 3 - 8&lt;br&gt;
Finally, like multiplication and division, addition &amp; subtraction are at the same level, so do them in sequence from left to right as well:
&lt;b&gt;3 - 8&lt;/b&gt; = -5 &lt;br&gt;
and bob&#39;s your uncle! &lt;br&gt;
BTW: while it might &lt;i&gt;seem&lt;/i&gt; like the ideal place, I&#39;ve found that using magic marker to write PEMDAS of the back of the shirt of whoever sits in front of you does have some distinct disadvantages. :(
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