Order of Operations

I thought I had this down pat, but I am having a problem with an exercise:

l3 - 12l /3

So, I figure it this way: 3 - 12=-9/3=-3
But the answer my book is giving me is 3, NOT negative 3.

What am I doing wrong!? Please help!

|3 - 9| = 6 ; || means absolute value

I still don't understand how to figure the problem

htiaf687 said:

I still don't understand how to figure the problem

Click to expand...

The tutor's hint was meant, I think, to suggest that you apply what you learned in class about absolute values.

Note: 3 - 12 does not equal -3.

Eliz.

htiaf687 said:

3 - 12=-9/3=-3

Click to expand...

As a side note, I'm going to pick on this just a bit, ignoring that it is not an appropriate solution to the original problem. Elizabeth hinted at it.

You had this:

3 - 12

It was easy enough to calculate this difference:

3 - 12 = -9

From here, we ALL know you mean

-9/3 = -3

But that is not what you wrote. As soon as you added the "/3" something was very wrong.

3 - 12 = -9 <== Correct
3 - 12 = -9/3 <== INCorrect

I like to stress this point by encouraging the student NEVER to have an equal sign that is not telling the truth -- EVER. Your first equal sign was truthful for a while, but you invalidated it when you added the next step without rewriting the next equation.