how does 3,7,12,2 equal to 29?

Question

How does 3, 7, 12, 2 equal to 29? You would need to use an exponent.

Answer 1

So, here is how I get there, it is important to understand the order of operations when solving my equation:

7² - (12 x 3) + 2⁴ = 29

By order of operations we know that parenthesis are solved first and 12 x 3 = 36:

7² - 36 + 2⁴

Now we would solve the exponential components so 7 x 7 = 49 and 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16:

49 - 36 + 16 = 29

Remember in order of operations, multiplication and division occur at the same time. The same is true for addition and subtraction. I personally just solve from left to right.

49 - 36 = 13

13 + 16 = 29

This is the way I got there, but possibly someone else solved it differently.

Hope this helped!

JD