How many ways can you make 1?
7 June 2018

In Year 6, the students have been exploring the order of operations when solving and creating complex number sentences.  BODMAS stands for Brackets, Orders, Division or Multiplication, Addition or Subtraction.  BODMAS provides a framework in which to answer mathematical equations that may contain more than one operation.  Unlike when we read, we don’t always move from left to right when solving equations.  Instead, we complete the operations in the order of BODMAS, starting with anything in brackets, then orders (powers or square roots), followed by division or multiplication (moving from left to right) and finally addition or subtraction (moving from left to right).

So next time you see one of those ‘tricks’ on your social media feed that tells you that 99% of the population won’t be able to answer it correctly, ask yourself, ‘Can I apply BODMAS here’ or even better, ask your child.

Here are a few ways Year 6 students applied BODMAS rules to make the number 1, using only the digits 2, 3 and 4.  Can you think of any others?

Michelle Monaghan – Year 6 Classroom teacher