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Using Parentheses to Change the Order of Operations

The order of operations in the Python programming language is pretty much the same as the order of operations that students get taught in math class.

Dependencies​

Students need to have these skills before learning this skill:

Goal​

When you teach this skill, your goal is to make it so that students can write code that looks like this:

a = 1 + 2 * 3
b = (1 + 2) * 3

Activities​

Here are some activities that you can do in order to teach this skill.

Writing code on the board​

  1. Write this code on the board:

    number = 1 + 2 * 3

  2. Ask students what they think that code will do.

  3. Explain to students why that line of code sets number to 7.

  4. Change the code so that it looks like this:

    number = (1 + 2) * 3

  5. Ask students what they think that code will do.

  6. Explain to students why that line of code sets number to 9.