---
title: Order of Operations
description: The order of operations is a standard set of rules used to evaluate mathematical expressions. You will understand how to correctly sequence addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponents, and parentheses to solve complex arithmetic and algebraic equations.
category: mathematics
subcategory: arithmetic-and-pre-algebra
difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced
url: /subject/order-of-operations
---

# Order of Operations

The order of operations is a standard set of rules used to evaluate mathematical expressions. You will understand how to correctly sequence addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponents, and parentheses to solve complex arithmetic and algebraic equations.

## Available Resources

4 Websites

## Websites

### 1. Khan Academy - Order of Operations

Free Khan Academy arithmetic unit of short videos and auto-graded practice sets on evaluating expressions with parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition and subtraction. Learners finish able to simplify multi-step numerical expressions in the conventional order and check their own work.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic/arith-review-order-of-operations

**Tags:** order of operations, pemdas, arithmetic, evaluating expressions

### 2. Ambiguous PEMDAS (source collection and paper)

**Author:** Oliver Knill

Harvard mathematician's dossier on order-of-operations ambiguity, collecting Cajori's 1928 notation history, Lennes's 1917 Monthly article, ISO 80000-1, archived AMS guidance, and how calculators and computer algebra systems actually parse 2x/3y. Includes a short paper.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://people.math.harvard.edu/~knill/pedagogy/ambiguity/index.html

**Tags:** order of operations, pemdas, mathematical notation, implied multiplication, history of mathematics

### 3. The PEMDAS Paradox

**Author:** David Linkletter

Explains why 6÷2(1+2) has two defensible answers: two competing conventions for implied multiplication. Argues the expression is not well-defined rather than commonly misread, and shows when parentheses are mandatory.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://plus.maths.org/content/pemdas-paradox

**Tags:** order of operations, pemdas, implied multiplication, mathematical notation

### 4. mathsisfun.com

MathIsFun.com is a beginner-friendly math site that explains concepts with clear, step-by-step lessons and interactive activities. It covers topics from algebra and linear equations to geometry, fractions, data, and more, with practice problems, worksheets, and quizzes.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://mathsisfun.com

**Tags:** websites, mathematics-statistics, algebra

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