^^^ Well put!
Facebook Math Debate: 6÷2(1+2)=?
- Thread starter Chaos Descending
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I 'm surprised that I got it right (i'm math-phobic), but I remembered to evaluate what's between the parens first...
Very similar debate going on in the Front Office Football forums...
http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=81256
I got '9' as the answer.
http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=81256
I got '9' as the answer.
BTW: I have no idea what the division symbol is called. Well, I'm sure I know it but can't think of what it's called so I called it a "divisor" which I know is wrong.
I also am very rusty in my ASCII character code so I've no idea how to make the "division" symbol and couldn't be arsed to look it up and do it.
Needless to say, though, it means something a bit different than the slash does and the lack of a multiplication mark (be it an "x" or a dot) makes the operation between the problem and the parenthetical problem/solution different enough that it's lower in the order of operations than multiplication/division is.
When writing problems, however, it's always best to make it as clear as possible for the problem solver to know how to really do things so the problem should be written: "(6/2)(1+2)=" (using either division symbol) as it has the least amount of head-scratching in it.
(And it'd be "6/(2(1+2))" if the other answer is desired.)
I also am very rusty in my ASCII character code so I've no idea how to make the "division" symbol and couldn't be arsed to look it up and do it.
Needless to say, though, it means something a bit different than the slash does and the lack of a multiplication mark (be it an "x" or a dot) makes the operation between the problem and the parenthetical problem/solution different enough that it's lower in the order of operations than multiplication/division is.
When writing problems, however, it's always best to make it as clear as possible for the problem solver to know how to really do things so the problem should be written: "(6/2)(1+2)=" (using either division symbol) as it has the least amount of head-scratching in it.
(And it'd be "6/(2(1+2))" if the other answer is desired.)
I know exactly what you mean! It is nicer!
Maths no cares for nice or pretty. Maths smashes! 
FYI the "division symbol" is called an "obelus" and you can make one on a Windows PC by making sure NumLock is on, then hold ALT and type 0247 on your number pad.
Well, you must have been taught wrong....they mean the same thing.
Really, all the cheap whores I have ever known always use latex.
But yeah the answer is 9. PEDMAS(or BODMAS for you across the pond) shows us the way.
P.S. My iinstinct was to do it differentrly, but it still comes out to 9.
6÷2(1+2)=3(1+2)=3+6=9
Yeah, I am REALLY bad at math, but even if you did consider it as a fraction of 6 over 2, it wouldn't change the answer. If you were multiplying as a fraction of 6 over 2, you'd have to put the 3 over 1 and then multiply the two top numbers (6 X 4) and then the two bottom numbers (2 X 1) which would give you a new fraction of 18 over 2, which reduces to 9.
In Canada, I learned BEDMAS. As usual, we can't decide who to follow and come up with a weird hybrid.
I thought 1 at first, myself, but haven't done math in a while. 9 makes sense now that I think about it.
I had no doubt it equals 9.
it took me a few seconds to work out what people were doing for them to think it equaled 1. It just seemed so wrong to me that I had trouble seeing it.
it took me a few seconds to work out what people were doing for them to think it equaled 1. It just seemed so wrong to me that I had trouble seeing it.
I think it is a poorly written problem. I was specifically taught never to use the division symbol because it is inherently confusing.
Honestly, when I first saw the problem, I instinctively turned it into a fraction, with 6 as the numerator and 2(1+2) as the denominator, in which case the answer is 1.
But yeah, I see that the answer is actually 9.
Honestly, when I first saw the problem, I instinctively turned it into a fraction, with 6 as the numerator and 2(1+2) as the denominator, in which case the answer is 1.
But yeah, I see that the answer is actually 9.
Any accountant will tell you that the correct answer is not there.
The correct answer is "What do you WANT it to be?"
The correct answer is "What do you WANT it to be?"
I had one year of algebra in high school, which I’ve completely forgotten. I don’t remember ever learning a mnemonic like PEDMAS, BODMAS or any such thing. I assumed that, for the answer to be 9, the term “6÷2” would have to be enclosed in parentheses, so the problem would be written “(6÷2)(1+2).”
Well, I can’t solve a quadratic equation to save my ass either.
I thought something smelled funny in here.
Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.
Parentheses Exponents Multiplication Division Addition Subtraction.
Ahh, now this brings me back to my middle school algebra class. But yes, it's 9.
I'm a math grad and I had a long, arduous argument with a former CS professor about this today. It just depends on who you are and how you treat OoO...
In CS, the left-to-right rule of reading the code is used to resolve the fact that division and multiplication have the same priority in the order of operations. This could be simplified if we gave one operation priority over the other.
In my view as a student, I haven't seen the inline divisor symbol in... easily over a decade, it's simply not used anymore, so when I see 6 mod 2(1+2), I picture 6/(2(1+2)) and I'm not an idiot for adding in a set of parenthesis.
In real live day-to-day academic mathematics, it's very common to express a preferentially prioritized multiplication operation by omitting the dot operator between the two quantities (such as 2 and the quantity (1+2) ).
If you're a Comp Sci major or student, it makes the most logical sense to you for the compiler to read the code left to right and therefore have to prioritize the divisor over the multiplication symbol, but neither is absolutely right or wrong - in fact, this ambiguity goes back like 400 years into mathematical history. It's unresolved, but easily resolvable by just deciding on a standard. Either modulo or multiplication takes precedence, or the absence of a dot operator for multiplication gives the multiplication operation priority.
Not exactly a clear "yes" or "no" answer, precisely because this is an intentionally contrived expression that demonstrates the ambiguity in the order of operations.
In CS, the left-to-right rule of reading the code is used to resolve the fact that division and multiplication have the same priority in the order of operations. This could be simplified if we gave one operation priority over the other.
In my view as a student, I haven't seen the inline divisor symbol in... easily over a decade, it's simply not used anymore, so when I see 6 mod 2(1+2), I picture 6/(2(1+2)) and I'm not an idiot for adding in a set of parenthesis.
In real live day-to-day academic mathematics, it's very common to express a preferentially prioritized multiplication operation by omitting the dot operator between the two quantities (such as 2 and the quantity (1+2) ).
If you're a Comp Sci major or student, it makes the most logical sense to you for the compiler to read the code left to right and therefore have to prioritize the divisor over the multiplication symbol, but neither is absolutely right or wrong - in fact, this ambiguity goes back like 400 years into mathematical history. It's unresolved, but easily resolvable by just deciding on a standard. Either modulo or multiplication takes precedence, or the absence of a dot operator for multiplication gives the multiplication operation priority.
Not exactly a clear "yes" or "no" answer, precisely because this is an intentionally contrived expression that demonstrates the ambiguity in the order of operations.
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