How do you evaluate #5( 2+ ( - 9) + ( - 25)#?

1 Answer
Apr 2, 2017

Two possible answers are #-60 and -160#, dependent on where the missing bracket is located.

Explanation:

There are other possibilities, but those would infer two missing brackets which is less likely.

Given: #5(2+(-9)+(-25)#

We will need one more bracket to solve this, and that could appear in two possible places. We can solve for both.

Here we added a closing bracket at the end of the second term.
Our first activity is to get rid of the inside brackets, then the outside brackets:

#5(2+(-9))+(-25) = 5(2-9)+(-25) = 5(-7) -25 = -35-25 = -60#

Here we added a closing bracket at the end of the third term.
Our first activity is to get rid of the inside brackets, then the outside brackets:

#5(2+(-9)+(-25)) = 5(2-9-25) = 5(-32) = -160#