Poll: What is the answer to 48/2(9+3)?

[Hashime]

BOMDAS
Brackets pOwer Multiplication Division Addition Subtraction

No.
Brackets
Powers
Multiplication or Division
Addition or Subtraction
You read the equation from left to right.

 

[Woem]

I'm pressed for time so I'll do this as fast as possible and I think a lot of people already said this but here's my 2 cents as they say.

48/2(9+3) the way I was thought works out like so

You start out with the parenthesis getting 9+3 = 12

Then you procceed with the multiplication and division going from left to right

coming to the conclusion that the full equation would be something like 48/2(9+3) = 48/2(12) = 24(12) = 24x12 = 288

THAT. IS. HOW. YOU. DO. IT!

If anyone thinks different, they don't know math or their teachers didn't get through to 'em.

Incidentally I think that while you might say the the multiplicatin symbol should be added before the parenthesis I believe that when I was doing this level of math they started out doing that to put emphasiz on the fact that it's supposed to be there, but in the end if there's a parenthesis in an equation you're supposed to know that the numbers preceeding it are supposed to be multiplied by it. After the parenthesis is calculated mind you. And either way it doesn't matter if a multiplication sign is there or not because if we follow the calculate from left-to-right rule and the equation looked like this

48/2x(9+3) we'd still end up with
48/2x(12) paranthesis done
24x(12) Division done - 48/2<<this one first cause, left to right remember?
288 - Final multiplication of the two sets of numbers.




Now. Is that bloody clear enough for you?!

Edit: wow.. keyboard kind of got away from me there. Anyway. I stand by this.

Seriously, there is no "left to right" in math. Here is the most sensible post in the whole thread:

I don't know why you want us to do your homework for you, but I got 288... after you do the parentheses, you're supposed to do them from left to right. I think it's a poorly written problem, though.

Mathematics don't care about "left to right". You solve the parentheses first, and then in the order of multiply and divide. The answer is 2. Take it from the European guy.

Clearly a culture break has occurred because there seems to be no agreement on which should come first the multiplication or the division. The way I was taught was called "BEDMAS", which seems to be a Canadian thing according to a quick google search of the word. Other regions use other systems that are similar or different arrangements, which has resulted in this shift of multiply or divide first. For example I had never heard of PEMDAS before tonight, nor had a reason to seek out alternatives to what I was taught.

Parentheses (or brackets, even though they aren't actually brackets) do come first, that is a given. Afterwards, as I said, it is used both ways whether to utilize the M or the D. From what I can find there doesn't seem to be a concrete rule as to which is first. So if we are to ignore left-to-right as another regional quirk, there is no correct answer. It is 2 and 288, depending on which you solve first.

The answer is 288 using the BEDMAS system (divide first, then multiply) and 2 using PEMDAS (multiply first, then divide).

But whatever system you use, there is no left to right.

 

[Goldeneye1989]

BOMDAS
Brackets pOwer Multiplication Division Addition Subtraction

No.
Brackets
Powers
Multiplication or Division
Addition or Subtraction
You read the equation from left to right.

you said EXACTLY what i did. No reason to snap at me

 

[Bearjing]

It is my belief that if you were to get the "24*12" section of the sum, then the equation would be written (48/2)*(9+3).

Instead the brackets are referring the the number immediately adjacent to the brackets/parenthesis, leading the answer 2.

(48/2)*(9+3) is the same thing as 48/2(9+3). It is just that 48/2(9+3) is the simplest way to write it.

 

[thingymuwatsit]

What do you guys get for an answer, 2 or 288?

48/2=24
9+3=12
24*12=288

 

[ScorpSt]

Thank you for posting that. I'm going to bed. Oh, and it's 288. Anyone who says otherwise is reading it wrong.

 

[Supernatural Girl]

It is my belief that if you were to get the "24*12" section of the sum, then the equation would be written (48/2)*(9+3).

Instead the brackets are referring the the number immediately adjacent to the brackets/parenthesis, leading the answer 2.

(48/2)*(9+3) is the same thing as 48/2(9+3). It is just that 48/2(9+3) is the simplest way to write it.

It's not or we wouldn't have this debate. If everything in bracket was dealt with first the answer would be 288. But because we have people calculating it 2 different ways its a poorly written equation and the brackets would clear up the correct way to answer it.

 

[KingWeasel]

The problem is written incorrectly. This number configuration is not special, you will have this problem anytime you multiply by a denominator. For example: 100/5(5+5) = 200 or 2

Or: 2/2(2+2) = 4 or 0.25

See a problem here? this last one really tells it, because 2/2 is the same thing as 1, and 1*4 is 4, so how can multiplying 1*4 result in 0.25? it cant.

Face it, for all the experts here telling people what the answer is, the truth is the problem is written in a manner that uses the denominator twice giving two answers by the standard order of operations. Thus this problem gives two answers.

Does that solve the answer for any of you?

 

[Jcw87]

The answer to this problem is on wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_operations#Mnemonics

Basically, all of the acronyms you were taught are stupid and misleading. The answer is 288.

 

[brendonnelly]

Oh god, can't you all see what he's doing? This is the new .99... = 1 thread, and you're all getting sucked into it.

The truth is that the equation is written ambiguously, so that two answers are both reasonably correct, and everyone argues about it for pages and pages and gets nowhere. Just stop this thing before it goes on for a hundred pages.

This!!!! I can't believe people are arguing about this. The only answer that is wrong in this case is arguing that one answer is the only answer.

 

[flippedthebitch]

I don't know why you want us to do your homework for you, but I got 288... after you do the parentheses, you're supposed to do them from left to right. I think it's a poorly written problem, though.

lol it's not a homework problem man, I'm not in middle school. This question is blowing up other forums and reddit.

48/2(12) = 2

Yeah, that's how I did it. But the way it's written, it doesn't specify if the only the 2 is being multiplied by 12 or if the entire fraction is. If the first, then it's 2. If the second, then it's 288.

So, as Professor Layton wisely pointed out, the problem is poorly written.

not really. due to the limitations of computers, we cant write fractions on forums quite as well as by hand, so one must assume that since the whole fraction was not in parenthesis to be multiplied, the multiplication by 12 only applies to the denominator of the fraction. and so, by adding (9+3) to get 12, then 12*2 to get 24, 48/24=2. simple

yay high school freshman pre calc class!

Hmmmmm. You should pay a little more attention in your calc class. If the intentionn was for the 9+3 to be applied only to the denominator then that would have to be expressed with parenthesis. When this isn't specified, then we do the operations of division and multiplication in order from left to right. So:

48/2(9+3) 48/(2(9+3))
48/2(12) 48/(2(12))
24(12) 48/24
288 2

When a multiplication and division step takes place in the same equation and the second operation isn't included in parenthesis to indicate that the question requires you to complete that operation first we have to read the question left to right. This is the way calculators would solve this problem. Of course if the question was written (48/2)*(9+3) it would remove all ambiquity.

Yay for 3rd year university mathematics

 

[silasbufu]

You need to specifiy if the paranthesis is on the bottom side, or if it multiplies the entire fraction. Both can be correct.

 

[Bearjing]

It is my belief that if you were to get the "24*12" section of the sum, then the equation would be written (48/2)*(9+3).

Instead the brackets are referring the the number immediately adjacent to the brackets/parenthesis, leading the answer 2.

(48/2)*(9+3) is the same thing as 48/2(9+3). It is just that 48/2(9+3) is the simplest way to write it.

It's not or we wouldn't have this debate. If everything in bracket was dealt with first the answer would be 288. But because we have people calculating it 2 different ways its a poorly written equation and the brackets would clear up the correct way to answer it.

Just read it out loud "48 divided by 2 times the sum of 9 and 3."

This problem comes up in programing and graphing calculators. You can't just assume what someone intended when they wrote it, you just go with how it is currently written.

 

[KingWeasel]

The problem is written incorrectly. This number configuration is not special, you will have this problem anytime you multiply by a denominator. For example: 100/5(5+5) = 200 or 2

Or: 2/2(2+2) = 4 or 0.25

See a problem here? this last one really tells it, because 2/2 is the same thing as 1, and 1*4 is 4, so how can multiplying 1*4 result in 0.25? it cant.

Face it, for all the experts here telling people what the answer is, the truth is the problem is written in a manner that uses the denominator twice giving two answers by the standard order of operations. Thus this problem gives 2 answers.

Does that solve the answer for any of you?

You need to specifiy if the paranthesis is on the bottom side, or if it multiplies the entire fraction. Both can be correct.

 

[Brawndo]

X divided by Y(A+B) = X/(AY+BY). The 48 is divided by the two, but the two is modified by the (9+3), and thus the correct answer is 2

The way I see it, the only way it would be 288 is if it were written (48/2)(9+3).

Then again, I'm not a math or engineering major.

 

[Bearjing]

You need to specifiy if the paranthesis is on the bottom side, or if it multiplies the entire fraction. Both can be correct.

it is specified since the 2 isn't in parenthesis with (9+3). This is why learning PEMDAS is so important.

 

[magicmonkeybars]

This is what I expect four year olds to ask, how you fail math this basic ?