Which mathematical operation does not depend on the order of operations?

The correct answer, addition, is an operation that is commutative, meaning the order in which you add numbers does not affect the sum. For example, whether you calculate 3 + 5 or 5 + 3, the result is always 8. This property allows you to rearrange the terms in any addition problem without changing the final outcome.

In contrast, the other operations listed — subtraction, division, and exponentiation — do depend on the order of the numbers involved. For instance, changing the order of the numbers in subtraction (like 5 - 3 versus 3 - 5) gives different results. Similarly, with division, 10 ÷ 2 is different from 2 ÷ 10. Exponentiation also has a specific order where altering the base and exponent changes the result significantly, as seen with 2^3 (which equals 8) compared to 3^2 (which equals 9). Thus, the unique characteristic of addition underlines why it is the correct choice in this context.