Order of Operations

Calculations are performed in the standard mathematical order of operations.

1. Perform any calculations inside parentheses.
2. Perform all multiplications and divisions, working from left to right.
3. Perform all additions and subtractions, working from left to right.

Here is an example that should have been stated using () to provide visual simplification:

1*2-3*4+5*6/7 =
(1*2)-(3*4)+(5*6/7) =
(1*2)-(3*4)+((5*6)/7) =
2-12+(30/7) =
2-12+4.2857 =
-5.7143

Simply going from left to right would yield a much different answer. Always use parenthesis to eliminate confusion.