Example

Example of an Acrostic: 'Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally'

A common memory aid for recalling the sequence of the order of operations is to use the acrostic phrase 'Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally'. The first letter of each word corresponds to the steps in the sequence: Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction. Notably, the phrasing groups 'My Dear' and 'Aunt Sally' together; this serves as a reminder that multiplication and division have equal priority and are performed from left to right, just as addition and subtraction share equal priority and are evaluated from left to right.

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Updated 2026-05-07

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