What do parentheses mean in a math problem?

Answer 1

it means you do whatever is in the parentheses first; for example

4(6+1)

this means you add 6+1 before you multiply by four

so you get 7 times 4 28

and it makes a big difference because if not you multiply 6x4 you get 24 plus 1 25 so its not the same and very important