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PEMDAS Misconceptions

The common misconceptions and errors students have when applying the order of operations, specifically with the PEMDAS mnemonic, and how teachers can correct these through explicit instruction and targeted practice.

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Jan 15, 2026

What are common errors students make applying order of operations and how do teachers correct them?

Students commonly misapply the order of operations by treating the mnemonic PEMDAS as strictly sequential instead of recognizing equal-precedence pairs and left-to-right associativity, mixing up subtr...