Operands
In mathematics, an operand is the object of a mathematical operation, is a quantity operated on.
The following arithmetic expression shows an example of operators and operands:
In the above example, '+' is the symbol for the operation called addition.
The operand '3' is one of the inputs (quantities) followed by the addition operator, and the operand '6' is the other input necessary for the operation.
The result of the operation is 9. (The number '9' is also called the sum of the augend 3 and the addend 6.)
An operand, then, is also referred to as "one of the inputs (quantities) for an operation".
Operands may be complex, and may consist of expressions also made up of operators with operands.
In the above expression '(3 + 5)' is the first operand for the multiplication operator and '2' the second. The operand '(3 + 5)' is an expression in itself, which contains an addition operator, with the operands '3' and '5'.
Rules of precedence affect which values form operands for which operators:
In the above expression, the multiplication operator has the higher precedence than the addition operator, so the multiplication operator has operands of '5' and '2'. The addition operator has operands of '3' and '5 × 2'.
Depending on the mathematical notation being used the position of an operator in relation to its operand(s) may vary. In everyday usage infix notation is the most common, however other notations also exist, such as the prefix and postfix notations. These alternate notations are most common within computer science.
Below is a comparison of three different notations — all represent an addition of the numbers '1' and '2'
In a mathematical expression, the order of operation is carried out from left to right. Start with the left most value and seek the first operation to be carried out in accordance with the order specified above (i.e., start with parentheses and end with the addition/subtraction group). For example, in the expression
the first operation to be acted upon is any and all expressions found inside a parenthesis. So beginning at the left and moving to the right, find the first (and in this case, the only) parenthesis, that is, (2 + 22). Within the parenthesis itself is found the expression 22. The reader is required to find the value of 22 before going any further. The value of 22 is 4. Having found this value, the remaining expression looks like this:
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