Ok guys so I've been out of school for eight years, never used algebra again, also I was forcibly removed from school in 9th grade. I need to ask a few questions on Elementary Algebra, what are the () in an equation? For Example:
2x+4y(-4)/8x(-3)x
Not sure what in the world to do :X sorry guys, it's been so long. If anyone could give me a quick crash refresher course that would be greatly appreciated! I took a practice test and scored 25% when back in school I could just whizz by all of this stuff!
Actually, just putting two symbols next to one another stands for "multiply". So, for example $xy$ really means $x \times y$.
Parentheses are usually for gathering things together and keeping them separate from the other symbols in the formula. This removes ambiguity that arises from order of operations, so $x(y+z)$ means $x$ times $y+z$. This is obviously different from $xy +z$. Since you've done some programming, you are probably familiar with this idea.
In the specific case of things that are preceded by minus signs, the parentheses are for clarity, and to make things look nicer. So $x(-y)$ means $x$ times $-y$. If you leave out the parentheses, you have to write $x \cdot -y$ or $x \times -y$, or $x * -y$, which all look a bit odd. If you leave out the multiplication symbol, and you don't use parentheses, then you get $x - \!\!y$, which means something different.