“99% of people are wrong about this problem – can you solve it?”

• Multiplication and division then, from left to right.
• Finally, additions and subtractions, always from left to right.

Two key points:

• Multiplication and division have the  same priority  : they are solved in the order in which they appear.
• The same principle applies to addition and subtraction.

The tricky exercise

Expression :

Copy the code

2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 ÷ 2 + 2

Step 1  —  Division first (because there are no parentheses):

Identify 2 ÷ 2 = 1.

New expression:

Copy the code

2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 2

Step 2  —  Additions from left to right:

2 + 2 = 4
4 + 2 = 6
6 + 2 = 8
8 + 1 = 9
9 + 2 =  11

Final result: 11