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Originally Posted by Undertoad
no i did the parens first and then, from left to right, division and then multiplication
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You don't do multiplication/division from left-to-right like it's prose. Multiplication comes first regardless of where it is. Assume that the parentheses are done first, so now we have:
48 ÷ 2 x 12
That is the same as
48 x (one-half) x 12
Your way puts the 12 as a denominator in the fraction, which it wouldn't be unless there were also parentheses around the (2 x 12).
The mnemonic they taught us in grade school was
My
Dear
Aunt
Sally: multiplication, division, addition, then subtraction.