According to PEMDAS, multiplication and division are performed in which direction?

According to PEMDAS, multiplication and division are performed in which direction?

• A. From left to right
• B. Before all other operations
• C. All at once
• D. Right to left

Answer: (A)

Multiplication and division are on the same level of priority, so after handling parentheses and exponents you work through them from left to right as they appear in the expression. This left-to-right rule keeps things consistent because these operations can change a number’s value depending on where they occur. For example, in 4 × 6 ÷ 3 + 2, you first do 4 × 6 to get 24, then 24 ÷ 3 to get 8, and finally add 2 to get 10. If you tried to do all divisions before multiplications, you’d get a different result, which PEMDAS avoids by using left-to-right order within the multiplication/division group. Another quick check: 20 ÷ 4 × 5 equals (20 ÷ 4) × 5 = 5 × 5 = 25. Doing it as 20 ÷ (4 × 5) would give 1, which is not what the rule yields.

Multiplication and division are on the same level of priority, so after handling parentheses and exponents you work through them from left to right as they appear in the expression. This left-to-right rule keeps things consistent because these operations can change a number’s value depending on where they occur.

For example, in 4 × 6 ÷ 3 + 2, you first do 4 × 6 to get 24, then 24 ÷ 3 to get 8, and finally add 2 to get 10. If you tried to do all divisions before multiplications, you’d get a different result, which PEMDAS avoids by using left-to-right order within the multiplication/division group.

Another quick check: 20 ÷ 4 × 5 equals (20 ÷ 4) × 5 = 5 × 5 = 25. Doing it as 20 ÷ (4 × 5) would give 1, which is not what the rule yields.