8 ÷ 4 × 2 = 2 × 2 = 4

This is a rather simple problem. It’s unlikely you made a mistake here, since you solved it by simply performing operations one after another, going left to right.

6 ÷ 2(1 + 3) = ?

This problem looks simple, but it can baffle even math professors. This is because you can get different results depending on how you solve it. For example, you can solve it like this: 6 ÷ 2(1 + 3) = 6 ÷ 2(4) = 3 * 4 = 12. But if you rely on the distributive property (where a(b + c) equals a × b + a × c ), you’ll get 6 ÷ 2(1 + 3) = 6 ÷ ((2 × 1) + (2 × 3)) = 6 ÷ (2 + 6) = 6 ÷ 8 = 3/4. This happens because the expression can be interpreted in different ways, resulting in different answers.

3(4 + 1) + 6² ÷ 3 — 7 = 3 × 5 + 6² ÷ 3 — 7 = 3 × 5 + 36 ÷ 3 — 7 = 15 + 36 ÷ 3 — 7 = 15 + 12 — 7 = 20

It’s easy to make various mistakes in this expression, but the correct order is as follows: the first operation should be performed in brackets, then 6 should be raised to the second power, then you need to perform multiplication, then division, after which you do addition and subtraction. A similar result is obtained if you use the distributive property (where a(b + c) equals a × b + a × c) and solve the problem as follows: 3(4 + 1) + 6² ÷ 3 — 7 = ((3 × 4) + (3 × 1)) + 6² ÷ 3 — 7 = (12 + 3) + 6² ÷ 3 — 7 =
15 + 36 ÷ 3 — 7 = 15 + 12 — 7 = 20.

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