6th grade math video confuses learners by glossing over how fraction bars are handled by PEMDAS 1+5×81/9
On July 25, 2025, I used Report a Mistake on the video "Order of operations examples: exponents" in 6th grade math (Unit 4 Lesson 5) to bring Khan Academy's attention to the fact that the video glosses over how fraction bars are handled by PEMDAS and is confusing learners. It has been more than 2 months, and I worry that no action will be taken -- even though adding something to the About text should be extremely easy.
If others agree that Khan Academy should take some action, please support this post.
If I missed something, please let me know.
Here is what I wrote on the video:
In 6th grade math, order of operations was introduced in the previous lesson. In both of the videos there, Sal teaches that multiplication and division must be done in order from left to right.
_After_ this video, in "Order of operations review" [later in the same lesson], learners are taught "Fraction bars group their numerator, their denominator, and the division operation."
But as far as I can see, they have not been taught that yet when they get to this video. (If I missed where it is taught, I would be grateful to have it pointed out, so I can refer learners to it as well.)
At 1:27, as Sal starts evaluating 1 + 5 × 81/9, he says "Once again, we want to do our multiplication and our division first. So we have a division right over here. 81/9 is the same thing as 81 divided by 9, and that's going to be 9."
If he's doing 81/9 first because the fraction bar counts as grouping, why does he talk about it with multiplication? And how are the learners supposed to know that the fraction bar counts as grouping if that has not been taught yet?
This disconnect is causing repeated Questions from learners about why he is not going left to right [at least 3 in the last 3 months, despite few US users being partway through 6th grade at that time]. This is confusing them when they are trying to learn the concept and understand the rules.
In a lesson that is specifically about the order of operations, the rules need to be modeled and described clearly.
Since I doubt the video will be remade, KA should add a notation (similar to the way corrections are handled) onto the video addressing the issue, as well as putting the notation in the About area (since learners who view a video in full screen mode never see onscreen notes, but might see the About area when they go to post a Question). The notation would be something like "Sal is doing 81/9 first because fraction bars count as grouping." I urge you to prioritize this.
I also suggest eventually adding a video, article, or at least some practice questions [with clear explanations in the steps] that include applying order of operations to fraction bars.
I would appreciate your serious consideration of this issue..
Thank you,
Janice,
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