In reply to TN:
BODMAS - Brackets Off, Div, Mult, Add, Sub
I think the "brackets off" was a fiddle to make it memorable. basically, do whatever is in the brackets first to reduce the equation to single terms.
When simplifying or rearrangin equations though, you should aim to only have as many brackets as you need - unneccessary ones like 2x(MxN) can lead to confusion.