Mastering The Associative Property Of Math: How To Use Parentheses To Clarify Order Of Operations

What do you parenthesize if a statement has two or more of the same operators?

you start from the right because of right associativity

If a statement has two or more of the same operators, you would use parentheses to clarify the order of operations. This is known as the associative property.

For example, consider the expression:

2 + 3 + 4

Since addition is associative, this expression is equivalent to:

(2 + 3) + 4

The parentheses make it clear that we should add 2 and 3 first, and then add the result to 4.

If the expression was:

2 * 3 * 4

We would also use parentheses to indicate the order of operations:

(2 * 3) * 4

Again, the parentheses clarify that we should multiply 2 and 3 first, and then multiply the result by 4.

Using parentheses when necessary can help avoid confusion and ensure that your code evaluates expressions in the correct order.

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