I find the lack of intelligence depressing

[ultrachicken]

The question is designed specifically to be misleading. If you asked any of the people who answered zero to tell you what PEMDAS means, you'd probably get the correct answer. Also, math is only one part of a broad range of areas that determine a person's intelligence.

 

[Buffoon]

So, out of all the incredibly blatant acts of stupidity on the Internet, you picked this one? A puzzle based on a skill that, although relatively basic, is largely irrelevant to most people and truly important to only a very few? A puzzle specifically designed to trip people up in at least two ways (the minus, and the 'multiply by 0 thing')? THAT'S what's got you so upset about the state of the human race? Really?

 

[freaper]

This is a seriously depressing realisation of what humanity is becoming.

Har har har...

If I got a euro for every time someone said that (or I thought that myself) I'd be a billionaire.

We are not more stupid or even more intelligent than people 100 years ago. In fact, because there's more people and because they can communicate more easily with thousands of people at the same time, it just looks like it.

 

[Danny Ocean]

But if you multiply anything by 0 don't you always get 0?

You're only multiplying one '1' by zero- the last one. So it does this:

1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1x0

VVVVV

1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1+1+0

Then you notice that there's a sneaky '-' halfway through, and it becomes this:

1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+0

Which equals 14.

I wouldn't blame anyone for getting this wrong, and I'd deride any kind of accusations of un-intelligence due to such a mistake as totally naive and arrogant. If you think getting this wrong makes people unintelligent, you need to grow up.

 

[aDuck]

Would like to say that intelligence is one thing, wisdom is something else. While I consider myself resonably intellect, I dont think I am wise, and I would much prefer the latter than the former. I don't care that you can recite pi to 20 dp, or that you can de-construct a Shakespear play. If you can apply anything you know, as little as you know, or as much as you know, then you will always be better than someone who knows everything but doesnt know what to do with it.

Wisdom > Intelligence.

 

[Quellist]

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.

no. you can't do simple day-to-day equations without this, it's such a basic and important part of math that you don't ever forget.

It's a trick question designed to trip people up. Getting it wrong does not make someone an idiot.

Agree 100% this is more about reading equations than ability with actual math.

 

[theultimateend]

I find the lack of intelliegnce depressing

i'll mark it up to a simple typo lol

i've seen that question too. posted a status update about it, basically calling everyone who answered 0 to be dumb and should go back to elementary school.

PEMDAS is complicated!

 

[Valdus]

I don't think many people know that when equations are written out this way you're meant to apply the multiplications first, not the additions.

So 1+1X3 would be 4, not 6 (since you would multiply the 3 by 1 first, not adding the two 1's together).

 

[aDuck]

no. you can't do simple day-to-day equations without this, it's such a basic and important part of math that you don't ever forget.

It's a trick question designed to trip people up. Getting it wrong does not make someone an idiot.

Agree 100% this is more about reading equations than ability with actual math.

In order to read math equations, you must know _____ (Hint: it starts with "m" ;D)
But seriously, while people dont do it mentally, I am sure you do it subliminally for the easy things. If you say you have 1 orange and 2 apples, you have 1*y+2*x. Yes its easier to do it with names, but its there.

 

[Jakub324]

Some people are getting stupider, but our demographic is becoming more aloof and disgusted by them.

 

[Lesd3vil]

One problem here is that this is pretty ambiguous without parentheses... But if you go by this PEMDAS thing which I've never heard of but am gonna assume is 'Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction' then your equation cancels itself out as:

(Considering the 1x0 takes precedence and nullifies itself) ten minus six OR ten minus one plus five (the latter could be two equations in itself, but essentially links back to the first anyway)... So, depending on whether you give precedence to the addition or the subtraction (which I was always taught are on an equal level) your answer COULD be four, in which case even the person who originally posted this has tripped themself up with a stupid mistake >> of course, your mileage may vary, but it also kinda depends on how you WANT to interpret the question.

 

[aDuck]

That is not a lack of intelligence, it is a lack of knowledge/wisdom. They are two very different things (see D&D =P).

Please don't say knowledge is the same as wisdom. It kills me a little inside, like a mini knife stabbing one of my blood cells. Think of it as KOTOR
I reckon it is intelligence, BUT (flame shield lifted) its intelligence about a topic. I, for example, am not very intelligent in the ways of biology, American football (y u no use feet much?!?) or any english subject past basic spelling and gramma. Total intelligence cannot be found by testing someone on one topic.

 

[Haelium]

Not knowing how to answer a badly written question does not make you an idiot. It makes you a person who doesn't know BEMDAS(Which is just a convention, thus meaning that it is knowledge, and nothing to do with intelligence). Once you leave Primary school you stop seeing questions like this.

If you are smug about knowing the answer, you need to rethink your life. Do you remember how to differentiate from first principle? It's quite easy but you have probably forgotten. I remember, but do I post calculus on the internet? No, I don't, because I understand that outside science, engineering and academia that it is not needed, and that people have other things to remember. But let me get this out of the way, BEMDAS isn't even needed in science, academia or engineering because you would know where each value is coming from and thus be able to write the sum with brackets.

Now can we please ban these stupid threads?

 

[Quellist]

no. you can't do simple day-to-day equations without this, it's such a basic and important part of math that you don't ever forget.

It's a trick question designed to trip people up. Getting it wrong does not make someone an idiot.

Agree 100% this is more about reading equations than ability with actual math.

In order to read math equations, you must know _____ (Hint: it starts with "m" ;D)
But seriously, while people dont do it mentally, I am sure you do it subliminally for the easy things. If you say you have 1 orange and 2 apples, you have 1*y+2*x. Yes its easier to do it with names, but its there.

Way to totally misread my post. To read equations you need to know math however to do math you don't necessarily need to be able to read equations...

Personally when i am doing math in my head i strip out the items entirely so its more like 1+2 and if i had 1 apple, 2 oranges and 0 strawberries i wouldn't add a zero in my head. Split hairs all you like that equation isn't about the ability to do math

 

[Cheesus333]

This is a seriously depressing realisation of what humanity is becoming.

*megaphone click on*

NO IT IS NOT.

What you call simple maths is not the be all and end all of intelligence. There will be no decline nor decelleration in the human race's swift and unending march towards advancement and further understanding of the world around us as a result of whatever the hell this Facebook question was supposed to prove.

And when the place you're gathering your evidence from is fucking Facebook, no less, then the veracity of your conclusion becomes ever more unreliable.

 

[StBishop]

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...

According to excel I got that wrong.

I went
=48/2*(9+3)
=48/2*(12)
=12*12
=144

I'm assuming that I should have done something different?

EDIT: haha. Wow, I don't know how I thought that 48/2 = 12. My bad. I'm going to assume that if I didn't have a study fried brain I'd have done it properly.

 

[PurplePlatypus]

I blame the school system slamming anything times by 0 equals 0 in our heads from a young age and not covering BODMAS till much later on. It also still slightly annoys me how long it took them to tell us that light travels in waves.

Also human civilisation isn't going to collapse because some people don't remember BODMAS. I'm surprised I remember since its been years since I've even had to consider it.

 

[C95J]

oh well, it is an easy mistake to make, no need to get to depressed about it. Just please stop all the crap about "oh what is wrong with humanity ", really it's just a maths question...

 

[thtool]

People who get this wrong cannot comprehend simple maths problems and should never be allowed to give their opinion on anything based in logic.

The only way it could be zero is if there was some huge brackets in there.