In algebra the well-known BODMAS acronym represents the priority / order that operations are calculated in:
When writing expressions in After Effects, will operations follow this order, or in what order are they calculated?
After Effects (as of version 16, released 2020) uses the V8 Javascript engine to interpret expressions. This is the same as used in many web browsers, such as Chrome.
It's pretty easy to test if it follows BODMAS (The O in which stands for Order BTW). On a text layer alt / opt-click the stop watch for text source and paste this:
let brackets = 2 * (1 + 1);
let order = 1 + Math.pow(2, 2);
let divMult = 1 + 2 * 2 + 4 / 2;
"Brackets: 2 * (1 + 1) should be 4, result: " + brackets +
"\n" + "Order: 1 + 2^2 should equal 5, result: " + order + "\n" +
"Division and Multiplication: 1 + 2 * 2 + 4 / 2 should equal 7, result: " + divMult
Spoiler alert: it does.
