Kimmy was correct! The order of operations, or PEMDAS, says parentheses are first! So in the parentheses you have to either use exponents or division, but exponents are right after parentheses. So then you have 36/9 which is 4! Then you have addition or division, and division comes first! so 36/4 is 9, then that 9 plus the 12 equals 21!