Precedence determines the order in which operations are evaluated in an expression. Operators with higher precedence are evaluated before operators with lower precedence.
congrats on reading the definition of precedence. now let's actually learn it.
Multiplication and division have higher precedence than addition and subtraction.
Parentheses can be used to override the default precedence rules.
The exponentiation operator (**) has higher precedence than multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction.
Operators of equal precedence are typically evaluated from left to right, except for exponentiation which is evaluated right to left.
Comparison operators have lower precedence than arithmetic operators.
Review Questions
What is the result of the expression: $3 + 4 * 2$?
How does using parentheses affect the evaluation of an expression?
Which has higher precedence: multiplication or addition?
Related terms
Operator: A symbol that tells the compiler or interpreter to perform specific mathematical, relational or logical operation and produce a final result.
Expression: A combination of values, variables, operators, and functions that are evaluated to produce another value.
Associativity: The rule that defines the direction (left-to-right or right-to-left) in which operators of the same precedence are processed.