Ace the MCA Math Vocab Challenge 2026 – 4th Graders, Get Ready to Conquer!

Parentheses are the curved brackets used to group parts of an expression and show what to do first. When something is inside parentheses, you work on that part before continuing with the rest of the expression. For example, in 3 + (4 × 2), you do the multiplication inside first, giving 3 + 8 = 11. If you want to combine 2 and 3 before multiplying, you’d write (2 + 3) × 4, which becomes 5 × 4 = 20. Other bracket types exist—for example, square brackets [ ] for extra grouping or intervals, braces { } for sets or more complex groupings, and angle brackets < > for angles or special notations—but the term that refers to the grouping that shows the order of operations in basic arithmetic is parentheses.