Question

Molly and Nancy disagree about the value of the expression 2+3×4. Molly thinks it is 20 and Nancy thinks it is 14.how could

each girl have calculated her answer? who is correct

Answer 1

Molly : she calculated 2 + 3 x 4.....and she got 20......so she basically added 2 + 3 (which equals 5), then multiplied by 4...giving her 20.

Nancy : she calculated 2 + 3 x 4...and she got 14...so she basically multiplied the 3 x 4 (which is 12) and added the 2.

Nancy is correct because in PEMDAS (the order of operations) multiplication comes before addition

Answer 2

Molly- 2+3 equals 5 then she times that by 4 which gets 20 but Nancy used PEMDAS and did 4x3 then added 2 which gets 14. Nancy is correct