Evaluating expressions (article) | Khan Academy (2024)

Learn to evaluate all sorts of expressions: expressions with one variable, two variables, fractions and decimals, and even expressions in word problems.

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  • Ana Chavarria

    8 years agoPosted 8 years ago. Direct link to Ana Chavarria's post “Cam has 32 dollars. How m...”

    Cam has 32 dollars. How many roses can he afford to buy?
    Assume that he wants to buy as many roses as he can.

    how do you solve this and come out with the answer 6. Can you please explain?

    (10 votes)

    • StarryNight

      8 years agoPosted 8 years ago. Direct link to StarryNight's post “The expression 2+5r equal...”

      The expression 2+5r equals the cost of the roses, which is 36. So you can replace "cost of roses" with 36 and get the expression 2+5r=36. Now you have an equation that you have to solve. Solving this algebraically requires knowledge of algebra higher than what you've got now, so try using the guess-and-check method. Make a chart of amounts of roses and the price that each one of them would cost. 2 roses cost 12 dollars, 3 roses cost 17 dollars, 4 roses cost 22 dollars, 5 roses cost 27 dollars, and 6 roses cost 32 dollars. And that's your answer!
      If you want to find out how to solve the equation algebraically, head over to these videos: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra-home/alg-basic-eq-ineq

      (1 vote)

  • Darpan Rastogi

    7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Darpan Rastogi's post “What is PEMDAS? Why do we...”

    What is PEMDAS? Why do we have to follow it?

    (5 votes)

    • 7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to cheese33's post “Good question! PEMDAS is...”

      Good question!
      PEMDAS is an acronym for:
      P – Parentheses
      E – Exponents
      M – Multiplication
      D –Division
      A –Addition
      S –Subtraction
      Note that you do M and D at the same time, and A and S at the same time. When you have a complicated expression, this is the order of which you solve the operations.
      For example, let's take the expression:

      5 - 2 * 8^2 + (5 - 3 / 3)

      Now, if you were to do it left to right, you would do:
      3 * 8 ^ 2 + (5 - 3 / 3)
      24 ^ 2 + (5 - 3 / 3)
      576 + (5 - 3 / 3)
      581 - 3 / 3
      578 / 3
      192.66666667
      But, if you use PEMDAS, you get:
      5 - 2 * 8^2 + (5 - 3 / 3) //1st: Parentheses
      5 - 2 * 8^2 + (5 - 1) //Division is done first
      5 - 2 * 8^2 + 4 //2nd: Exponents
      5 - 2 * 64 + 4 //3rd: Multiplication
      5 - 128 + 4 //4th: Addition/Subtraction
      -123 + 4
      -119 //Answer!

      So why do we use PEMDAS? Well, without it, there would be no guidelines on what to do first.
      Learn more here: http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-pemdas-definition-rule-examples.html

      (6 votes)

  • ojinkins

    8 years agoPosted 8 years ago. Direct link to ojinkins's post “I don't want to go to a f...”

    I don't want to go to a flower store where I can get charged 2$ for buying 0 roses.

    (6 votes)

    • ethan.kuo

      3 months agoPosted 3 months ago. Direct link to ethan.kuo's post “Well, maybe you can buy i...”

      Well, maybe you can buy infinite number of flowers and get the most out of that $2.

      (1 vote)

  • Mehboob Rehan

    7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Mehboob Rehan's post “I saw a question about PE...”

    I saw a question about PEMDAS and Its very good explanation, What is BOADMASS and when is that used?

    (2 votes)

    • Kim Seidel

      7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Kim Seidel's post “It is spelled: BODMAS. ...”

      It is spelled: BODMAS. It is exactly the same as PEMDAS. There are also BEDMAS and BIDMAS. They just use different words to represent the same exact rules for order of operations.
      B = Brackets or P = Parentheses
      O = Orders, or E = Exponents; or I = Indices.
      MD = Multiplication & Division; or DM = Division & Multiplicaton
      AS = Addition & Subtraction

      Here are some examples of where these are used according to Wikipedia: PEMDAS is used in the US. BODMAS is used in the UK & Australia. BEDMAS is used in Canada & New Zealand. BIDMAS is used in some African countries.

      (2 votes)

  • Md. Durjoy Mia

    6 months agoPosted 6 months ago. Direct link to Md. Durjoy Mia's post “the value of the constant...”

    the value of the constant is the same regardless of the number of roses.

    (2 votes)

  • nurali

    8 years agoPosted 8 years ago. Direct link to nurali's post “I don't understand the wo...”

    I don't understand the word problem with muffins and cakes
    can someone explain it.

    (2 votes)

    • Math Enjoyer

      a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Math Enjoyer's post “In the question it asks u...”

      In the question it asks us to solve, "how much money do you get from selling 3 muffins and 4 cakes,"and it tells us that the price of muffins is 2$, and the cakes are 10$.So now the equation is 2 times 3 + 10 times 4. First we multiply which then gives us 6+40 with will give us 46$

      (1 vote)

  • Aaryan Paul

    7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Aaryan Paul's post “How many dollars in one p...”

    How many dollars in one pound?

    (0 votes)

    • Kim Seidel

      7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Kim Seidel's post “Currency exchange rates v...”

      Currency exchange rates vary daily. You would need to look it up on the internet for the current exchange rate.

      (4 votes)

  • Aubrey Carr

    8 years agoPosted 8 years ago. Direct link to Aubrey Carr's post “On the 8th problem from t...”

    On the 8th problem from the top, I cannot seem to get the answer right.
    The problem is 3/2y-3+5/3z y=4 z=3. I converted the fractions to decimals before multiplying them, and I keep coming up with 10.8. I know I'm probably doing something stupidly wrong, but can you please tell me what?

    (2 votes)

    • Kim Seidel

      8 years agoPosted 8 years ago. Direct link to Kim Seidel's post “The error is from convert...”

      The error is from converting the fractions to decimals. 5/3 is a repeating decimal (1.666...). You likely changed it into 1.6 or 1.7. Neither one is equal to 5/3. Unless the fraction creates a terminating decimal, you are better off using the fraction to maintain its entire value. By rounding / truncating repeating decimals, you no longer have the same value and you get incorrect answers when exact answers are needed.

      3/2 (4/1) + 5/3 (3/1)
      Cancel common factors
      3/1 (2/1) + 5/1 (1/1)
      Multiply, then add
      6 + 5 = 11
      Hope this helps.

      (0 votes)

  • Sree Chaitanya. B

    7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Sree Chaitanya. B's post “If he wants to cut the mo...”

    If he wants to cut the money and then if the cost of a tulip is 1 dollar dollar then how if you have to spend only $31 then how much money should he pay

    (0 votes)

  • prince_eg17

    7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to prince_eg17's post “it is not the double cost...”

    it is not the double cost of three roses because it builds up a different price

    (0 votes)

Evaluating expressions (article) | Khan Academy (2024)
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