Missing Parentheses – An Order of Operations Activity

I really like this order of operations activity that I am naming “Missing Parentheses.” I found it in the textbook Intermediate Algebra for College Students by Karl J. Smith and Patrick J. Boyle (free to borrow from the Internet Archive’s Online Lending Library).

Yesterday, I shared a lovely set of 10 order of operations practice problems from the same textbook. (A reader pointed out that there was a typo in one of the files. I have since corrected it. Sorry about that!)

This problem actually came directly after the other ten practice problems for order of operations. The original problem states: “Insert symbols of inclusion into the following expression so as to obtain each of the values in Problems 61-64.”

I’ve typed it up to make it a hopefully easy to use resource in the math classroom!

Here’s my rewording: “Insert the missing parentheses into each equation to make it true when evaluated according to the order of operations.”

I realize that teachers in other countries would likely want to rename this activity as “Missing Brackets” since it seems like only Americans who put an emphasis on the term parentheses in regards to order of operations…

I have shared an editable version of the file below so you can change it up to suit exactly what your students need!