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Simplifying 4+374 + 3 \cdot 7 and (4+3)7(4 + 3) \cdot 7

The presence of grouping symbols can fundamentally alter the result of an expression containing identical numbers and arithmetic operations. For instance, without parentheses, the expression 4+374 + 3 \cdot 7 is evaluated by performing the multiplication first to obtain 2121, and then adding 44 to yield a result of 2525. However, if parentheses are introduced, as in (4+3)7(4 + 3) \cdot 7 (an implicit alternative), the order of operations dictates that the addition inside the parentheses would take priority to get 77, and multiplying by 77 would yield a completely different result of 4949.

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Updated 2026-04-21

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