Place the Brackets

Free interactive math game: Place the Brackets — Make result = N. Part of the Order of Operations category on MathKite.

Example problems

Taken from the generator that powers this exercise. A fresh set appears every time the page is opened, and the printable worksheet holds ten of them.

  1. Where should the brackets go so that the result equals 28? 6 + 4 × 3 − 2, (6 + 4) × 3 − 2, 6 + 4 × (3 − 2), (6 + 4) × (3 − 2)
  2. Where should the brackets go so that the result equals -3? 12 − 3 × (3 + 2), (12 − 3) × 3 + 2, 12 − 3 × 3 + 2, (12 − 3) × (3 + 2)
  3. Where should the brackets go so that the result equals 5? 12 − 3 × 3 + 2, (12 − 3) × 3 + 2, (12 − 3) × (3 + 2), 12 − 3 × (3 + 2)
  4. Where should the brackets go so that the result equals 20? (8 + 2) × (5 − 3), 8 + 2 × (5 − 3), 8 + 2 × 5 − 3, (8 + 2) × 5 − 3

About this exercise

Adding brackets to an expression so that it produces a stated result.

How to solve it

Work out what the expression gives without brackets, then look for the grouping that shifts it to the target. Brackets matter most around an addition that sits next to a multiplication.

Worked example

To turn 2 + 3 x 4 into 20 rather than 14, bracket the sum: (2 + 3) x 4.

Common mistake

Placing brackets where they change nothing. Wrapping a multiplication that would have been done first anyway leaves the value untouched.