Question 37510
We need to apply the order of operations, PEMDAS, when doing problems such as this:
-2 - 4 + 7 + 3(-4) + 17 =
Thus multiplying comes before adding and subtracting, and we get
-2 - 4 + 7 - 12 + 17 =
Then we add and subtract left to right as we find them...yielding
6 as our answer