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Emyrssentry t1_jad1axu wrote

Reply to comment by Jtrain360 in ELI5 How did we figure out the order for PEMDAS? Like how do we know that that order is correct? by ToodlyGoodness

All you really need is a system for denoting "do this part before you calculate the rest" (parentheses). As long as you have that, you can do every calculation exactly right, regardless of whatever other order of operations you have.

The only issue you'd have is clarity. A dozen nested parentheses is not a recipe for clear equations.

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