Question

Kara followed these steps to evaluate the expression 22 + (30 - 4) - 2:

Step 1: 30 - 4 = 26
Step 2: 26 + 22 = 48
Step 3: 48 - 2 = 46

George looks at Kara's work and says she made a mistake. He says she should have divided by 2 before she added.
Which student is correct? Explain how you know.
a) Kara is correct because she followed the correct order of operations (PEMDAS).
b) George is correct because he correctly identified the mistake in Kara's work.
c) Both Kara and George are correct in their own ways.
d) Neither Kara nor George is correct, as they both made mistakes in their calculations.

Answer 1

Kara is correct because she followed the correct order of operations (PEMDAS). George is incorrect because dividing by 2 before adding is not the correct order of operations.

Step-by-step explanation:

Kara is correct because she followed the correct order of operations (PEMDAS). According to the order of operations, parentheses should be evaluated first, followed by exponents, multiplication and division (from left to right), and finally addition and subtraction (from left to right). Kara correctly evaluated the expression using these rules. Dividing by 2 before adding is incorrect and goes against the order of operations. Therefore, George's statement is incorrect.