[Bill Verburg]

The issue w/ anyone that gets 2 for answer is that they do not understand the hierarchy of arithmetic operations

w/o parenthesis or exponents and understanding that a fraction is just a numerator divided by a denominator i.e a division
you do multiplication or division from left to right first, then addition or subtraction from left to right.

A better way to think is using the rule that terms are separated by + or - that are not in parenthesis. Then simplify term by term using the old mnemonic PEMDAS(inside parenthesis, exponents, multiplication & division(L to R), addition & subtraction(L to R) there are some short cuts using commutative properties of the real #s that are usually used.
3/4 + 1 - 2 * 2 + 3*5 (4 terms, work on them individually using PEMDAS)
.75 + 1 - 4 + 15 (still 4 terms but each is as simple as can be)
.75 +1 + 15 - 4 (using the commutative property I'd rewrite this grouping the + then the -)
16.75 - 4
12.75



if there are exponents you do them first as above
3^4/4 + 1 - 2 * 2 + 3*5^2 (4 terms)
81/4 + 1 - 4 + 3*25 (what is done in one term has nothing to do w/ what is done in the next, here exponent was done in the first term, multiplication in the third and exponent in the fourth)
20.25 + 1 - 4 + 75 ( still 4 terms, division is done in the first, nothing in the second and third, multiplication in the fourth)
20.25 + 1 +75 - 4(use the commutative property to group the + then the - terms)
96.25 - 4 (add all the terms w/ the same sign)
92.25 (subtract whats left)

parenthesis modify the above by requiring that what ever is inside them must be the first thing done, the only way a parenthesis is removed is by multiplication, barring an explicit multiplication the parenthesis is multiplied by 1
3^4/(4 + 1) - 2 * 2 + (3*5)^2 - (-3)^3 (4terms)
81/(5) - 4 + (15)^2 - (-27) (still 4 terms, exponent was done in the first, multiplication in the second, inside parenthesis multiplication in the third, exponent in the fourth)
81/5 - 4 - (225) + 27 (still 4 terms, parenthesis is multiplied by the understood 1 to remove it, second remains unaltered, third is multiplied by -1 to remove it, in the fourth -1 is multiplied by the parenthesis to remove it)
16.2 - 4 - 225 + 27 (still 4 terms, only the third was changed by multiplying it by -1)
16.2 + 27 - 4 - 225 ( use the commutative property to group + and -)
43.2 - 229 (add the terms w/ the same sign then subtract )
-185.8