This short arithmetic puzzle can produce very different answers if you ignore the order of operations. The expression is 40 + 60 × 0 + 4.
Multiplication comes before addition, so the first step is 60 × 0. That equals 0. The expression then becomes 40 + 0 + 4.
Answer: 44.
The multiplication by zero is the main trap. It only turns the 60 × 0 term into zero; it does not make the entire expression zero. Once that step is handled correctly, the remaining addition is easy.
If you got 44 without a calculator, you used the order of operations correctly.
