Overview
- News outlets Los Andes and El Comercio published step-by-step explainers on Nov. 12–13 that apply the standard order of operations to settle viral puzzles.
- Both outlets remind readers of the conventional rule set — parentheses first, then exponents, then multiplication and division at the same level evaluated left to right, then addition and subtraction left to right.
- Los Andes showed (36 + 28) ÷ 8 × 5 − 13 simplifies to 27 when you compute the parentheses, divide then multiply left to right, and finally subtract.
- El Comercio presented several timed challenges and gave solutions such as 14 × 2 − 5(6 + 7) − 1 = −38 to illustrate common mistakes and the correct step sequence.
- The coverage notes that implicit notation like 2(9+3) and similar formats often fuel confusion so readers should apply the left‑to‑right rule when division and multiplication appear together.