Why add before dividing in this equation? For the following equation, I know the correct answer is $9$:
$$
x / 3 + 2 = 5
$$
You subtract $2$ from each side, and the multiply each side by $3$...
But why do you subtract the $2$ first?
Doesn't the order of operations say I should do division before addition?

Order of operations more so tells you how you should read the problem unambiguously. Here we have "$x$ is divided by $3$, THEN added with $2$ to achieve $5$." To figure out what $x$ was originally, we sort of backtrack.
What did the equation look like before we added $2$?
$$x/3=5-2$$
Then what was it before we divided by $3$?
$$x=(5-2)\times3$$
