PEMDAS Worksheets
This acronym is used to help us remember the proper order of operations that we should follow to solve problems that have several operations or combine situations within expressions and equations. Our site is literally flush with worksheets and lesson that build on this fundamental concept. Take a quick search and you will see tons from two-step through five-step problems. In the typical month, we will receive a complaint tell us that our key is wrong from one of these sheets or others. They are all from teachers and students that take this acronym literally. We all need to realize that multiplication and division are at the same level and so is addition and subtraction. When you run into one of those pairs, you must process the operations in a left to right manner. These worksheets and lessons have students apply PEMDAS to problems.
Aligned Standard: 5.OAT.1
- Simple Step By Step Lesson- We present a reason for why we follow the order of operations to kids.
- Advanced Step By Step Lesson - Remember that multiplication and division are on the same plane.
- Crazy Apple Worksheet 1 - Where do the operation symbols all belong?
- Using Parentheses (Brackets) Worksheet 2 - These are all 2-steppers.
- PEMDAS Challenge Worksheet 3 - These are presented as if they are math riddle sheets.
- Balancing Equations Subtraction & Addition 4- Make sure that each side of the equals symbol has the same value.
- Answer Keys - These are for all the unlocked materials above.
Homework Sheets
A nice series of practice problems.
- Homework 1 - Your challenge is to place the digits in the correct place to make the answer you need.
- Homework 2 - Fill in the blanks using the given operators in each problem.
- Homework 3 - Solve away.
- Homework 4 - Fill in the missing numbers to balance the equations.
Practice Worksheets
What if you could have endless repetitions at this? You would probably get a lot better at it.
- Practice 1 - Workout these complex calculations.
- Practice 2 - I like to write it vertically so that we can see the association within multiplication and division.
- Practice 3 - This can be tricky if you do not remember which operation are found at the same level and need to be processed left to right.
- Practice 4 - Here is the tricky choice, we know that multiplication and division should always be processed left to right.
Math Skill Quizzes
What topic would ever be complete without an assessment of your skills.
- Quiz 1 - When you are getting dressed to confront cold weather, you will always get dressed in a specific order to stay as warm as possible.
- Quiz 2 - Put these calculations in order from smallest to largest.
- Quiz 3 - Ball park it.
What is PEMDAS?
The acronym PEMDAS stands for parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. When you are given two or more operations in an equation-based or expression problem, PEMDAS tells us about the order of the operations that we should follow to complete the problem. It tells you what to calculate first, second and so on to the completion of the problem. If a problem has a grouping of symbols, PEMDAS tells which mathematical symbol to calculate first. This is a standard convention that we all follow so that we can agree upon results and data. It makes it possible for us to recreate experiments of all kind, share results, and ultimately make sense of it all.
Without PEMDAS, obtaining one correct answer that everyone could recreate would be difficult. For example, if we are given an expression 2 x 4 + 7. We could multiply first and get the answer 15. However, if we add first and then multiply, then we will get 22. Which is the correct answer? PEMDAS resolves this confusion. Applying PEMDAS to the example, we will get 15. The order of solution is multiplication first and then addition.
Here is how PEMDAS works: P that is parentheses means that you solve for the grouping symbols first. You attack what is found inside those brackets first. Second, E, which is exponents. Take numbers with exponents and solve them for their respective powers. M is for multiplication and D is for division. This is where it gets a bit tricky. These two operations have the same priority, when they are next to each. Complete these two mathematical operations in the order from left to right, when you find them together. Similar to multiplication and division, A for addition and S or subtraction also have the same priority. Look for these two operations from left to right and calculate them in order, when you come across both of them in the same string.