Which operation should you perform first when you simplify #63-(2+54*6)-:5#?

1 Answer

First operation is the calculation within the brackets.

Explanation:

Checking the formatting of the question in edit mode shows that within the brackets we have #(2+54xx6)# and not #(2+54.6)# as I first assumed.
'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Given:#" "63-(2+54xx6)-:5#

Brackets first:

Within the brackets

Multiply before add #->color(brown)((2+54xx6))color(blue)(->(2+324))#

#color(brown)(63-(2+324)-:5)" "color(blue)(->" "63-326-:5#

Multiply/divide before add/subtract

#color(brown)(63-326-:5)color(blue)(" "->" "63-65.2#

'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#"So "color(brown)(63-(2+54xx6)-:5color(blue)( = -2.2)#