brackets

Brackets are a sign.

There are several different types of brackets. Here are some of them:

• round brackets ( )

• rectangular/square brackets [ ]

• curly brackets { }

They are used in pairs to show items that need to be delt with together, or to show items which have priority over anything else (as BODMAS/BIDMAS explains).

For example:

2 × (3 + 4)
= 2 × 7
= 14

Here’s another example:

(4 + 3) × (7 – 2)

We can see that the brackets group the 4 and the 3 together, and the 7 and the 2 together, therefore we must deal with them first.

(4 + 3) × (7 – 2)
= 7 × 5
= 35

Without the brackets, we multiply first:

4 + 3 × 7 – 2
= 4 + 21 – 2
= 23