Hi, Julian.

If I understand your question right, it would look something like this:

5(3(4)+2)²

Let me try to shade it to make the parts a little more obvious:

5(3(4)+2)²

Working through the order of operations or PEMDAS, we do parentheses and exponents first.

The exponent goes with everything in the parentheses that it is next to, that is, inside the orange parentheses. Simplifying inside the parentheses, we get:

(3 * 4 + 2)    --->    (12 + 2)    --->  (14)

So we have 5(14)²

5(14 * 14)

5 * 196

980

Hope this helps!

5(3(4) + 2) to the 2nd power

I see this as:

5(3(4) + 2)²

Follow the order of operations: 1) Parentheses, 2) Exponents, 3) Multiplication and Division, 4) Addition and Subtraction, or PEMDAS if it helps you remember.

Inside the innermost parentheses is 4 and nothing else. There are no exponents on this inner set of parentheses. So we jump to multiplication. The 3 is being multiplied by the 4, that is our first step.

=5(12 + 2)²

Inside the next set of parentheses is 12 + 2. We do this next.

=5(14)²

Now we do the exponent.

=5(14 x 14)

=5(196)

Finally, the only thing left is to multiply.

=980

Following the order of operations, this problem would be solved from the inside - out. If I understand correctly, the problem is 5(3(4)+2)^2.

Step 1: 3x4:       5(12+2)^2

Step 2: 12+2:     5(14)^2

Step 3: 14^2:     5(196)

Step 4:               980