What does the order of precedence mean in the computer language?

Answer 1

Think of BOMDAS

Brackets

Of

Multiplication

Division

Addition

Subtraction

It is the order in which parts of a calculation are done when you have a mix of operators. "Of" relates to power of. Computers follow the laws of mathematics. Calculations are not always done left to right. For example:

10+2*5

The answer here is 20, and not 60 which many people would think. The 2*5 is done first because multiplication is done before addition. So the 2 is multiplied by 5, giving 10, and that 10 is added to the first 10, giving 20. As anything inside brackets is done first, changing the formula as follows will give 60:

(10+2)*5

Here the 10 and 2 are added, because the calculation is inside the brackets. That gives 12, which when multiplied by 5 gives 60.

Here is another one, showing that power of is done before multiplication. It will square 10, giving 100 and then multiply it by 3, giving 300.

3*10²

Multiplications and Divisions actually have equal precedence. So they are always done left to right. So in this one the multiplication is done first and then the division:

3*2/4

In this one the division is done first and then the multiplication:

3/2*4

Because of this, BOMDAS can also be written as BODMAS.

Additions and subtractions also have equal precedence with each other and so are done left to right, but only after multiplications and divisions have been completed. Only brackets can change that, as in the second example.

There is also order of operations for logical or boolean operations, which is in the order Brackets, Not, And, Or.