Those are parentheses. They basically close off a section in math, and they use the PEMDAS (Order of Operations - Must use in order) protocol (or multiply two numbers) such as: Ex: 3(2+3) + 8(2-1) = (3 x 5) + (8 x 1) = 15 + 8 = 23 Parentheses (Answer what's in the parentheses first) Exponents (Do the math for the exponents) Multiplication (Multiply any numbers or variables) Division (Divide any numbers or variables) Addition (Add any numbers or variables) Subtraction (Subtract any numbers or variables)more »