Talk:Basic Algebra/Introduction to Basic Algebra Ideas/Order of Operations

I forsee a potential problem in explaining Order of Operations: None of the preceeding lessons define an "Operation". Should we explain binary (+,- for subtraction,*,/,^) and unary (- for negatives,square root) functions? I don't think that is a good idea if we haven't really introduced functions yet. I am not an educator; perhaps someone with experience could explain how they introduce order of operations to their students?


 * "Operations" are now (maybe already were) explained in lesson 1, not rigorously, but I think well enough for the purposes here. We can probably talk about unitary operations (and their precedence) once we get to them. Zahlen 04:40, 19 January 2007 (UTC)