40+40x0+1 =

I=indicies
O=orders

Means the same thing.

Mnemonics are often used to help students remember the rules, but the rules taught by the use of acronyms can be misleading. In the United States the acronym PEMDAS is common. It stands for Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction. In other English speaking countries, Parentheses may be called Brackets, or symbols of inclusion and Exponentiation may be called either Indices, Powers or Orders, and since multiplication and division are of equal precedence, M and D are often interchanged, leading to such acronyms as BEDMAS, BIDMAS, BODMAS, BERDMAS, PERDMAS, and BPODMAS.
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I'd never heard of BODMAS and I did GCSE's back in the early 90s. It was called order of precedence in my day.
 
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Quink said:
Why is the ''rule'' quoted as being BIDMAS/BODMAS? Can't you weirdos agree? Too busy playing with yourselves and not out getting fresh air I should warrant :o:)
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Order / Indices basically mean the same thing, it's just a personal preference thing on the part of the teacher as to which one they use I think.

I think BIDMAS is more common recently though, where BODMAS was more dominant a few years back.
 
MagicBoy said:
I'd never heard of BODMAS and I did GCSE's back in the early 90s. It was called rules of precedence in my day.
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It's just a mnemonic to remember the rule. Just like I was taught Never Eat Shredded Wheat for the points of the compass. Or Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain for the colours of the rainbow. You won't necessarily be taught the same mnemonic.
 
Can the people who went further in maths explain, why bodmas is the rule? I was taught many rules, many formulas, but didn't really get the why.
 
Kenai said:
Order / Indices basically mean the same thing, it's just a personal preference thing on the part of the teacher as to which one they use I think.

I think BIDMAS is more common recently though, where BODMAS was more dominant a few years back.
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It's also called BEDMAS in Canada, because they use the term Exponents, and in the US it's PEMDAS, because they use Exponenents too, as well as Parantheses rather than Brackets.

So.... apparently somebody already posted this *ginger stepchild*
 
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Pudney said:
It's just a mnemonic to remember the rule. Just like I was taught Never Eat Shredded Wheat for the points of the compass. Or Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain for the colours of the rainbow. You won't necessarily be taught the same mnemonic.
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Definitely never got taught a mnemonic at GCE or A-Level maths. It was just "These are the order you process them in without brackets..."
 
MagicBoy said:
Definitely never got taught a mnemonic at GCE or A-Level maths. It was just "These are the order you process them in without brackets..."
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So you've still learnt the order, just not with the name BODMAS.

Some here are claiming they've never learnt this order at all.
 
Quink said:
Yep - I'm of them - never been taught. Never never never. :confused:
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How have you ever done any maths beyond long division then?

They are the fundamental rules of how maths works, I don't understand how you could possibly have progressed through secondary school (guessing you did O Level rather than GCSE?) level maths without knowing these basic rules.
 
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