I find the lack of intelligence depressing

[GrimHeaper]

I just finished my college algebra final and earned an A in the course. I still got the question wrong. Paradoxical?

1/0 TIME PARADOX!!!!!
... I think we need a math section on the escapist.
I'm serious.

 

[idodo35]

as you said thats facebook its no intelegent place
but the most of it is probably people who didnt bother read the entire thing and just saw the X0 in the end and just voted and moved on

 

[Bebus]

And then you will enter the real world, where your less intelligent friend can build a multi-million pound business whilst you sit and complain about the typo on his website.

 

[Tourmeta]

Maths isn't everything in life at all! But that's a lot of people...

 

[JMeganSnow]

These threads proclaiming the death of education based on order-of-operation mistakes are getting tiresome.

Indeed, sir. I cannot help but notice that the majority of persons complaining that people who don't happen to remember order of operators are so "stupid" cannot use proper grammar/capitalization/spelling/punctuation. Even worse is equating "intelligence" with "education".

It's been over twelve years since my last math class and I honestly haven't had to use this knowledge since then. I could stand to go brush-up on my mathematical knowledge, sure, but there isn't any rush. It's not like I'm a physicist here. Heck, my dad, a real honest-to-goodness engineer, could not remember how to do a simple algebra problem (finding the point at which the Farenheit and Celsius scales match up*) back when I was in high school, so I had to show him how. The math he does is all statistical analysis and so forth, he doesn't have much use for standard algebra so he's forgotten most of it.


*: -40 degrees if anyone cares.

 

[LuckyClover95]

I thought it was zero! Please explain.
Plus, I think it's fairly snobby of you to either assume intelligence is measured by skill in maths, or that because people don't have skill in maths you are above them.
In my opinion, intelligence would be based on the ability to form your own opinion, and have valid reasons. There are people who never make their opinions, just say what their friends say, and to me they are unintelligent. There are also people like those crazy patriotic americans who hear someone on tv say something, start cheering but couldn't even think of one argument for why they agree. (Not dissing americans)
The acedemic subjects do not measure intelligence - I've known a few people who have had brilliant education, got A's A* everything, maybe went to university, who I think are unintelligent because they cannot speak their own mind.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

Ok, I realise facebook isn't the place to go for intelligence but seriously...

This is one those vote quiz things that goes around. If you look the answer 0 is winning on almost a million. This means almost a million people since this stared, a week ago, cannot do simple maths.

What's more is this is just those on facebook who've seen this and bothered to answer. This is a seriously depressing realisation of what humanity is becoming.

Edited to remove typo in title.

You do realise that people are going to glance at this, see the 1x0, and assume the answer is 0. Facebook quizzes arent particularly important, and theres no real reason to try get it right.

Regardless of the importance of it, it's still incorrect, and people when presented with quixxes generally give an honest attempt to 'get it correct' for the reason of comparing it to other people. We're competitive that way.

That doesn't change the fact that it is wrong, and hardly advanced math to understand order of operations.

Either youre underestimating how lazy people are or im underestimating how ignorant they can be.

Also, at time of writing your post number is 666, therefore you are the devil and whatever you say is evil.

 

[Lukeje]

I find the fact that people have been taught maths so badly that they have to refer to rules like `zero times anything is zero!' without understanding what they mean to be depressing.

 

[DracoSuave]

Ok, I realise facebook isn't the place to go for intelligence but seriously...

This is one those vote quiz things that goes around. If you look the answer 0 is winning on almost a million. This means almost a million people since this stared, a week ago, cannot do simple maths.

What's more is this is just those on facebook who've seen this and bothered to answer. This is a seriously depressing realisation of what humanity is becoming.

Edited to remove typo in title.

You do realise that people are going to glance at this, see the 1x0, and assume the answer is 0. Facebook quizzes arent particularly important, and theres no real reason to try get it right.

Regardless of the importance of it, it's still incorrect, and people when presented with quixxes generally give an honest attempt to 'get it correct' for the reason of comparing it to other people. We're competitive that way.

That doesn't change the fact that it is wrong, and hardly advanced math to understand order of operations.

Either youre underestimating how lazy people are or im underestimating how ignorant they can be.

Doesn't matter if they are lazy or ignorant... either way they're doing basic math badly. Neither of them show intelligence or ability to do simple math.

Also, at time of writing your post number is 666, therefore you are the devil and whatever you say is evil.

I am comfortable with this.

 

[thtool]

Failing to comprehend basic mathematics doesn't make people dumb! I prefer to measure intelligence by the number of pokemon stickers on my wardrobe door.

I don't buy the "its only a facebook random thing no one bothers to put in any effort" argument, since this problem requires zero effort to start with.

 

[KingofallCosmos]

These bedmas sound scary.
And on the whole I find my lack of depression more intelligent.

 

[Jordi]

In the last couple of months we have had two topics here with hundreds of replies discussing the outcome of a simple calculation problem. I think it was 48/2*(9+3) or something. So yeah, lots of people cannot do basic calculation...

it's 2. what do I win? I hope it's a cookie, please tell me it's a cookie

Maybe math lessons. Apparently you need them.

snip

But if you go back to that example, that isn't people not being able to do maths that's because of condencing it to one line and the different ways it can be read. This is a simple case of multilipaction having higher operational order than addition.

snip

That math problem itself is flawed, as it is written poorly.
Explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-e8fzqv3CE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
(Skip to 2:32)

This one, however, is entirely straightforward, and anyone who passed 5th grade math should be able to do it. The fact that they can't makes me want to hurt people, but I've long since given up on humanity being intelligent.

snip

Except that was related to how it is expressed in text format here, as people couldn't tell whether it was 24*12 or 48/(24), depending how the () is treated in relation to the rest of it. An acceptable mistake as it's not written and not clear.

I find the elitism in the gaming community more profoundly disturbing, PC gamers who think consoles are 'casual' and 'dumb' that are 'holding us back' when they are just morons who blatantly fanboy hate anything.

Oh and where I'm from we use BODMAS/BOMDAS, brackets outside multiply divide add subtract.

Actually, I feel that although that problem is slightly more complicated than the one that this topic is about, the problems are very similar as they are both about the order in which to apply mathematical operations. I agree that the problem could have been phrased better (like you guys and the video are saying), but that does not mean that there are no well-defined rules on the order in which these operations should be applied. BODMAS is right (no matter where you're from), with the side note that it's actually B-O-DM-AS and that the ones grouped together have the same priority and should be evaluated left to right. Adding extra brackets can make things clearer, because everybody knows that brackets have the highest priority, but the same can be said for 1+1+1+...+(1*0).

 

[Littlee300]

Ok, I realise facebook isn't the place to go for intelligence but seriously...

This is one those vote quiz things that goes around. If you look the answer 0 is winning on almost a million. This means almost a million people since this stared, a week ago, cannot do simple maths.

What's more is this is just those on facebook who've seen this and bothered to answer. This is a seriously depressing realisation of what humanity is becoming.

Edited to remove typo in title.

You do realise that people are going to glance at this, see the 1x0, and assume the answer is 0. Facebook quizzes arent particularly important, and theres no real reason to try get it right.

Regardless of the importance of it, it's still incorrect, and people when presented with quixxes generally give an honest attempt to 'get it correct' for the reason of comparing it to other people. We're competitive that way.

That doesn't change the fact that it is wrong, and hardly advanced math to understand order of operations.

Either youre underestimating how lazy people are or im underestimating how ignorant they can be.

Doesn't matter if they are lazy or ignorant... either way they're doing basic math badly. Neither of them show intelligence or ability to do simple math.

Also, at time of writing your post number is 666, therefore you are the devil and whatever you say is evil.

I am comfortable with this.

Edit: Misread post

 

[aDuck]

Ok, I realise facebook isn't the place to go for intelligence but seriously...

This is one those vote quiz things that goes around. If you look the answer 0 is winning on almost a million. This means almost a million people since this stared, a week ago, cannot do simple maths.

What's more is this is just those on facebook who've seen this and bothered to answer. This is a seriously depressing realisation of what humanity is becoming.

Edited to remove typo in title.

Anyone realise the irony that the OP has answered 14 when its 16? How did so many people miss how many ones there are?'

EDIT: As is brought to my attention, there is a minus sign in the equation.

 

[Jewrean]

Lack of mathematical prowess is small factor in the broad range of "intelligence". Most people forget about PEMDAS when they enter the real world. Way to generalize.

+1

I'm a Mathematics teacher and although I value Mathematics as a very important aspect of people's lives I wouldn't put down their intelligence for favouring a different facet / subject of intelligence. For example, I could point out yet another typo in your thread that you posted and go off on a rant about the stupidity of your English skills but:

a) I'm not a Grammar Nazi, there's no need for another one.
b) It could have been a simple mistake on your behalf and not a measure of your intelligence.
c) Your total intelligence is what matters, not just the English.
d) I could have made a mistake as well.
e) Rather than complaining about how stupid people are, go out and do something about it by educating others in a constructive manner. For example: you could have discussed the CORRECT method of the question to reach the answer to EDUCATE those that think it is '0'.
f) I measure my students intelligence based on numerous things but not just their Mathematical and Academic abilities. I also base it on their attitude and motivation towards my curriculum. If they consistently let me know in a rude manner 'Maths is shit' then I think they are dumb. But even if they are really terrible but still have a smile on their face and proceed to do their work then I think they are smart.

That is all.

 

[Bearjing]

Anyone realise the irony that the OP has answered 14 when its 16? How did so many people miss how many ones there are?

There are in fact 17 1's in the math problem. But one is multiplied by zero which negates it and another one is a negative 1 which subtracts it self from the remaining 15. You probably missed the "-" sign since there are so many plus signs surrounding it.

 

[Tdc2182]

It's a trick question, I have no doubt that people wouldn't get it. This has nothing to do with how intelligent people are, it's how closely they examine the details.

A more fitting title would be "I find the lack of attention to detail depressing"

 

[Kurt Cristal]

That's not really a part of day to day equations. Not even cashiers deal with anything more than two-character equations. And even then, there's usually only addition and subtraction.

CAPTCHA:
must ecialli

"Cashier" is not a job that requires math skills, intelligence, or education.

A monkey could do it.

Many companies have eliminated the position entirely and have people check themselves out with a camera pointed at them to prevent theft.

The fact that you used the phrase "not even cashiers", as if they are somehow the epitome of real-life mathematics application, makes me wonder what, exactly, you think the "real world" is.

Oh, I'm sorry, were we arguing semantics? Because that was just an example of the top of my head. Also, "cashier" isn't a real-life job? Oh, so you must be that one person who's just plain better than all the cashiers out there. I didn't mean to impose upon your greatness, your majesty.

 

[aDuck]

Anyone realise the irony that the OP has answered 14 when its 16? How did so many people miss how many ones there are?

There are in fact 17 1's in the math problem. But one is multiplied by zero which negates it and another one is a negative 1 which subtracts it self from the remaining 15. You probably missed the "-" sign since there are so many plus signs surrounding it.

Well, I am glad I have been proven an idiot. For a second I was going insane, but now I feel better about society