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In elementary algebra, parentheses ( ) are used to specify the order of operations. [1] Terms inside the bracket are evaluated first; hence 2×(3 + 4) is 14, 20 ÷ (5(1 + 1)) is 2 and (2×3) + 4 is 10. This notation is extended to cover more general algebra involving variables: for example (x + y) × (x − y). Square brackets are also often ...
Parentheses can be nested, and should be evaluated from the inside outward. For legibility, outer parentheses can be made larger than inner parentheses. Alternately, other grouping symbols, such as curly braces { } or square brackets [ ], are sometimes used along with parentheses ( ). For example:
Functional notation: if the first is the name (symbol) of a function, denotes the value of the function applied to the expression between the parentheses; for example, (), (+). In the case of a multivariate function , the parentheses contain several expressions separated by commas, such as f ( x , y ) {\displaystyle f(x,y)} .
For example, in the expression 3(x+y) the parentheses are symbols of grouping, but in the expression (3, 5) the parentheses may indicate an open interval. The most common symbols of grouping are the parentheses and the square brackets, and the latter are usually used to avoid too many repeated parentheses.
Parentheses have historically been used where the em dash is currently used in alternatives, such as "parenthesis)(parentheses". Examples of this usage can be seen in editions of Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Parentheses may be nested (generally with one set (such as this) inside another set).
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The argument between the parentheses may be a variable, often x, that represents an arbitrary element of the domain of the function, a specific element of the domain (3 in the above example), or an expression that can be evaluated to an element of the domain (+ in the above example).
Within an expression containing two or more occurrences in a row of the same associative operator, the order in which the operations are performed does not matter as long as the sequence of the operands is not changed. That is (after rewriting the expression with parentheses and in infix notation if necessary), rearranging the parentheses in ...