1.  A good way to remember the order of operations is the acronym P.E.M.D.A.S. Follow each step in order it appears.  Parenthesis. If it falls in parenthesis, do it 1st  Exponents  Multiplication  Division  Addition  Subtraction

2. Commutative Property Associative Property Distributive Property Identity Property

3.  The commutative property is allows for us to add and multiply numbers in any order we want without changing the answer.  17 + 6 is the same as writing 6+17. Both are equal to 23.  Same for multiplying 2 x 3 = 3 x 2

4.  The associative property says when adding or multiplying, we can group numbers in a sum or in a product in any way that we choose.  3+4+9 = (3+4)+9 = (4+9)+3  2x5x4 = (2x5)x4 = 2x(4x5)

5.  The distributive property comes into play when we have addition and multiplication in an equation. It tells us if a term is multiplied by terms in parenthesis, we need to “distribute” the multiplication over all the terms inside the parenthesis.  3x(5+y) = 15x+3xy

6.  The identity property simply tells us that zero added to any number is itself. For multiplication, it tells us that any number multiplied by 1 is the same number.  3+0=3  14x1=14