Poll: What is the answer to 48/2(9+3)?
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Because, for some god-awful reason, every time you ever post a math problem on a public forum, no matter how very damn basic, there's bound to be some people who either don't know but think they do, or can't be arsed to think.Jcw87 said:
Still, people screwing up something this basic just hurts my face and, despite everything, makes me somewhat depressed. I solved this in around two seconds without even thinking about it, and my math grades were piss-poor and my math classes few and far between.
But yes, this is really goddamn simple. Parenthesis go first. After that, multiplication and division are equal, so you go from left to right. AND THAT'S THAT, amazingly enough.
Ya it's silly the way its phrased, I'm sure specifically to get a reaction like this, but when the question doesnt specify with parenthesis which operation takes priority you have to read the question left to right. So the correct step is to divide the 48 by 2 before you multipy the 12 giving you 288. That would be how simple calculator solves this problem. Its funny cause you can program graphing calculators to preform operation using different rules and get different answers then people can use this to agrue points. But the correct algebraic system will never change. Why would it?Quazimofo said:
I am at the university of alberta in an education degree with a major in mathematics. I'm actually in the middle of a practicum teaching these mundane algebraic rules to grade 8 students. Its funny that almost every middle school students could do this problem with no issues but full grown adults struggle so much.
Notice the parts where I said "in my experience" and that it is dependent on the short hand your instructors used.Bearjing said:
What's -4^2?
Look, math notation is stupid. Even mathematicians screw this shit up sometimes.
If I were in charge I'd make it so if things were ambiguous you had to have written it wrong, but I'm not in charge, so shit will continue to be unnecessarily confusing.
Look, math notation is stupid. Even mathematicians screw this shit up sometimes.
If I were in charge I'd make it so if things were ambiguous you had to have written it wrong, but I'm not in charge, so shit will continue to be unnecessarily confusing.
All my life i was taught in school that division and multiplication are equal when it comes to order, so the whole thing would be 48:2 * (9+3) = 24 * 12 = 288.
Now as for logic following this:
48 divided by 2 is the same thing as 48 multiplied by 1/2 which removes the division.
You could write this problem as 48 * 1/2 * (9+3).
For answer to be 2 it would have to be written like this:
48/[2*(9+3)] - simple as that.
Now as for logic following this:
48 divided by 2 is the same thing as 48 multiplied by 1/2 which removes the division.
You could write this problem as 48 * 1/2 * (9+3).
For answer to be 2 it would have to be written like this:
48/[2*(9+3)] - simple as that.
Did you even read my post? I said that the way I was taught, the / always represents a fraction, because division is simply a way of manipulating fractions. As such, 48/2(9+3) would parse asBearjing said:
48
______
2(9+3)
instead of
48
----- (9+3)
2
What I'm saying is that I was taught to parse it as a completely different expression than you're parsing it as; the way I parse it, the answer is unequivocally 2, whereas you parse it as something that is absolutely 288. I wonder if we're seeing the result of regional dialects in the language of math...
Going by the Dutch equivalent; Meneer Van Dale Wacht Op Antwoord (Mr. Van Dale waits for an answer), I come to the same conclusion: 2.mindlesspuppet said:
google doesnt "change the formula". google uses proper order of operations. read the question left to right and preform the operations in order. Why are you multiplying the 2 by the 9+3 before you do the division? there is no reason to do this. The division step is done first. if the multiplication step was done first it would have to be included in brackets to indicate such. so it would look like 48/(2(9+3)).Merkavar said:
That's an old trolling question, but anyway:
IT engineer here, with also a degree in Applied Math.
Never heard of these "BEDMAS" or "PEMDAS", or whatever. We don't use that here. We just learn how to do it without mnemotechnic trick.
* and / have the same priority, as have + and -.
if there is no parenthesis, apply from left to right.
When written like this : 42/2(9+3),
it's equivalent to 42/2*(9+3).
also (42/2)*(9+3), but the first parenthesis are redundants.
42 divided by 2 multiplied by the sum of 9 and 3.
The result is 288.
To be 2, it should have been written 42/(2*(9+3)), where there are no redundant parenthesis.
The precedence of operators:
precedence _____operator ______(typical operation)
3 _____________ ^ _____________ exponentiation
3 _____________ - _____________ unary negation (right-associative)
2 _____________ * _____________ multiplication
2 _____________ / _____________ division
2 _____________ % _____________ remainder
1 _____________ + _____________ addition
1 _____________ - _____________ subtraction
-1_____________ ( _____________ begin-grouping
0 _____________ ) _____________ end-grouping (no precedence)
IT engineer here, with also a degree in Applied Math.
Never heard of these "BEDMAS" or "PEMDAS", or whatever. We don't use that here. We just learn how to do it without mnemotechnic trick.
* and / have the same priority, as have + and -.
if there is no parenthesis, apply from left to right.
When written like this : 42/2(9+3),
it's equivalent to 42/2*(9+3).
also (42/2)*(9+3), but the first parenthesis are redundants.
42 divided by 2 multiplied by the sum of 9 and 3.
The result is 288.
To be 2, it should have been written 42/(2*(9+3)), where there are no redundant parenthesis.
The precedence of operators:
precedence _____operator ______(typical operation)
3 _____________ ^ _____________ exponentiation
3 _____________ - _____________ unary negation (right-associative)
2 _____________ * _____________ multiplication
2 _____________ / _____________ division
2 _____________ % _____________ remainder
1 _____________ + _____________ addition
1 _____________ - _____________ subtraction
-1_____________ ( _____________ begin-grouping
0 _____________ ) _____________ end-grouping (no precedence)
oh my god this is 11 pages long... the qestion is poorly phrased as any mathematician worth their salt will not use a "/" to indicate a fraction FOR EXACTLY THIS REASON. Rather they would write it as
48
--- X (9+3)
2
or they would out it as
48
---
2(9+3)
depending on what they meant
48
--- X (9+3)
2
or they would out it as
48
---
2(9+3)
depending on what they meant
Frankly situations like this where exactly why {} [] () exist in math, and i don't see why not to use them instead of doing left to right...Bearjing said:
No, still has a problem, because you can easily put it in (48*1)/[2 * (9+3)] on paper...Keava said:
The problem is that "/" in writing is actually ____ and you can't easily tell what it encompasses... this is why this was never a math problem to begin with, but one of spelling/interpretation of signs.
Like i said, that's what [] {} where invented for...
Oops, now I look stupid : (Quazimofo said:
Bit of a hangover this morning so my brain's not working quite yet.
