In math...what does the term Please excuse my dear aunt sally stand for?

Question

Also, if the e is for exponents, what are exponents?

Answer 1

It's a memory technique (also called a "mnemonic") for remembering the Order of Operations in algebra.

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.
PEMDAS
Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction.

In other words, first you do anything grouped in Parentheses (). (There may be several operations inside the parentheses; if so, you follow the Order of Operations separately for those things -- it's like a problem within a problem.)

Next take care of Exponents. "Exponents" are sometimes also called "powers," and they're smaller numbers written to the upper right of something, like this: 7². The little ² is an exponent, and it indicates repeated multiplication -- specifically, how many of something will be multiplied together. 7² means two 7's multiplied together, or 7x7, which is 49.

Then come the other four operations: Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction.

Now, I'll be honest with you, I don't like the "PEMDAS" (or "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally") thing very much, because I think it misleads students. First of all, since M comes before D, you're tempted to think you should do all multiplications before you do any divisions, but that's not true; you should actually consider multiplications and divisions to be one combined step, and do them from left to right. The same is true with additions and subtractions. Also, the use of P for Parentheses is misleading too, because first of all, parentheses sometimes serve functions other than grouping things together, and second, sometimes other symbols (like square brackets [ ] or curly braces { }) can be used for grouping.

But if your teacher wants you to learn PEMDAS, then learn PEMDAS. I suppose it's a good starting point... just remember its limitations.

There's more info in the article I've linked to below. Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Please=Parentheses ( ). Do this or whatever is inside the parentheses first

Excuse=Exponents. These are little numbers next to larger numbers but raised in the air. The smaller number tells you how many times to multiply the big number by itself.

My=multiplication

Dear=division. You do multiplication/division next in order from left to right. So in the problem, if multiplication is before the division, you do the multiplication first and if division is first in the problem, you do the division first before multiplying.

EX: 14 divided by 7 times 2
14 dividied by 7=2
2 x 2 = 4
the answer is 4

Aunt=addition

Sally=subtraction. The same rules for multiplication/division apply here too. So here's an example.

24-10+3
24-10=14
14+3=17

So the trickiest part is with the parentheses. People get stumped because there may be addition/subtraction in there but outside is division/multiplication. Since the add/sub. is inside the parentheses you have to do those first.

I hope my explanation and examples are clear enough. Just do one step at a time and rewrite the problem after each step. Its more lengthy but it helps until you get the concept down.

Answer 3

PEMDAS is an order of operations, so you do these things in the order of PEMDAS

Parenthesis=complete everything within parentheses, ie (2+3) is in parentheses

Exponents=multiply out exponents, ie 2^2 (read 2-squared) is 2*2 is 4, ie 4^3=4*4*4=64. You multiply the first number by itself the number of times equal to the exponent. If zero is the exponent, the answer is always 1, no matter the base number

Multiply=anything with a multiplication sign

Divide=anything with a division sign

Add=anything with an addition sign

Subtract=anything with a subtraction sign

Answer 4

it's an acronym to help you remember what order of operations go first in an algebraic expression:

Please = parenthesis
Excuse = exponents
My = multiply
Dear = divide
Aunt = addition
Sally = subtraction

an exponent is a number that a whole number can be multiplied by so many times (depending on what the exponential # is.... it is the small number that is written slightly above and to the right of any whole #).

it kinda looks like this (but put a "3" in place of the asterik)
2*

basically it means 2 x 2 x 2
the example above can also be referred to as: two to the third power

or

two cubed

Answer 5

parenthesis, exponents, multiply, divide, subtract and add.
an exponent is a number multiplied by it's self that many times
3 to the power of 2 or 3 with a little 2 above it is an exponent so you would multiply 3x3 to solve it

Answer 6

Parantheses
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

Exponents are numbers that indicate to which degree a number is to be multiplied by itself.

Answer 7

It means perenthesis(), exponets, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction. It is the order in which you work math problems. Do problems in parenthesis first and go down the line. Exponets are the small numbers after the large ones. The exponets mean to mulitpy the larger number to itself that many times.

Answer 8

the order you do equations in
parenthases
exponents-the number mutiplied by itself how many times the little number says to.ex.7 little 3 ix 147
multiply
devide
add
subtract

good luck!

Answer 9

Please = parenthesis
Excuse = exponents
My = Multiply
Dear = divide
Aunt = Add
Sally = subtract

:)

Answer 10

pemdas


parenthasis

exponent

multiply

divide

add

subdtract

muliply and divide can be switched and interchanged in order, as can add and subtract