Order of Operations: Sometimes, Always, or Never?

Abstract: Order of Operations: Sometimes, Always or Never? Many of us learned that the "Order of Operations" as a random rule someone made up, and we all have to follow it to get the same answer. As we dig into math, specifically using the mathematical shifts of the College and Career Readiness Standards, we look at things from a very different perspective.  We no longer need to accept the order of operations as the rule, simply "because", instead let’s investigate it and find some meaning. In this session, we will use our mathematical properties (commutative properties, associative properties, distributive property, etc) to explore our basic operations. With a solid mathematical foundation we will then look at "PEMDAS" in the context of the mathematical shift of rigor.