>>>>>

>>>>>-24/4(-2)
>>>>>

>>>>>Is it:
>>>>>

>>>>>-6(-2) = 12
>>>>>

>>>>>Or is it:
>>>>>

>>>>>-24/-8 = 3
>>>>>

>>>>
>>>>See Agnes' reply :o)
>>>
>>>This is what gets me. I've gotten different answer from technical people who are good at math. How am I supposed to help an 11-year old understand the rules? After reading all the replies, I still don't know if the answer is 12 or 3.
>>
>>It's 12. I am surprised everyone didn't know this.
>
>I think this is what I mentioned in my other reply, wasn't it? I just want to see if I was right. You do the division first (treat it as a single number - a fraction).

For school though, it typically must be written out in the desired format so it is good that someone posted the math site for him to use. You cannot simply write it out as it makes sense to you (or as we would in programming). It has to be written out in the desired format to demonstrate you followed the correct steps and layout. Remember school? :o) I went through this with my daughter recently for her Calculus class. We eventually went to a website of lessons so she could review the formulas and how they had to be written out because although my answers were correct, the layout was wrong and the teachers take points off for that.