order of operations division

Question

Very dumb question:

What is the order of operations in the following:

PEMDAS a/b+c = a : b + c (where ":" is the division symbol)

7/1+6 or 7:1+6

in the example below is it 1 or 13?

Answer 1

First use PEMDAS and if two operations of same precedence occurs then Standard order convention is to evaluate from left to right.Here, division precedes over addition and hence answer is 13.

Answer 2

It is better written as $\dfrac{a}{b}+c$ or $(a/b)+c$ to avoid such possible ambiguity, assuming that is what it means (else, $a/(b+c)$ or $\dfrac{a}{b+c}$). I think we can all agree that, for example, $ab+c$ is shorthand for $(ab)+c$ rather than $a(b+c)$, but division with / (or ÷) can add human parsing problems if parentheses are not used. See also Gerry Myerson's answer to a related question.