Answer:
(b) Step 2 has the first error
Explanation:
An expression like this is evaluated according to the Order of Operations. That requires expressions in parentheses be evaluated first.
In Step 1, John correctly evaluated the first part of the sum (5 -3 +4) to get (2 +4). There is no error in this step.
In Step 2, John incorrectly computes 36 ÷ 2 = 18, ignoring the incomplete evaluation of the sum in parentheses. John's first error is in Step 2.
In Step 3, John correctly accomplished the next step in evaluating the expression he got in Step 2. There is no error in this step.
In Step 4, John correctly accomplished the next step in evaluating the expression he got in Step 3. There is no error in this step.
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Additional comments
If the expression were correctly evaluated, the steps would be ...
Step 1: (36 ÷ (2 +4))/2
Step 2: (36 ÷ 6)/2
Step 3: 6/2
Step 4: 3
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One could argue that steps 3 and 4 are also in error, since they propagate the error made in step 2.