CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

Does the "s" always come before the "p" when writing the hybridization? Does it matter? Thank you!

Yes the s orbital comes before the p orbital. But I don't believe that the order matters. For instance, both dsp^3 and sp^3d are considered the same thing.

I also do agree with the fact that order does not matter, however, you just have to make sure that number goes along with the correct orbital that is correlated. If there is three p orbitals used for hybridization, you have to put 3 after p but you can never switch the values around.