Math question

"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
02/13/2018 at 13:22 • Filed to: None

Proceed at your own risk

We all know that drunk Aunt Sally. If you don’t, Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

For those who still don’t get it... Order of operations in a mathematical problem is Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction. Got all that. Cool

Ambiguity - What are the rules for doing similar weighted operations? - 1+2-4. (addition and subtraction are equally weighted). Allegedly, the rules state that you do the one you encounter first. So you do addition here first and then do subtraction. Allegedly it makes no difference.

Problem = 6/2(1+2)

We do parenthesis first: 1+2=3.

THEN?

Do we do division first? or do we do multiplication first? Since we jumped to parenthesis first, the closest operation from there is multiplication.

Mathematicians insist that the answer there is 9. But doesn’t it depend on linguistics? For instance... if you’re Jewish or Muslim and read right to left, wouldn’t you encounter right side operations first?

So then both answers.... 1 and 9 are correct... depends where you’re from

DISCUSSION (30)

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 13:32

“Math question”

*Logs out of Oppo*

PartyPooper2012 > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo
02/13/2018 at 13:33

BlueMazda2 come back.... you can blame it all on me... I was wrong...

diplodicus > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 13:33

If you were jewish or muslim the problem would be written backwards and you’d get the same answer.

Think of it like someone is asking the question. 6/2 * (1+3), just that if you use a written language that reads right to left it would be (1+3) * 6/2. It’s the same question though.

PartyPooper2012 > diplodicus
02/13/2018 at 13:34

(2+1)*2/6=?

It’s not the writing problem. It’s the reading problem.
Someone graffitis your fence with math problem and you want to solve for who dun it. If you read left to right, you get 9. If you read right to left, you get 1. You still don’t know who dun it... but you’re certain your solution is correct

ttyymmnn > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 13:35

Kinja'd!!!

HammerheadFistpunch > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 13:37

I think you are conflating math with language. There is only one way to “read” math, so if you are reading it right to left, you are doing it wrong regardless of your language.

diplodicus > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 13:37

Looking at your response I think I fucked up my edit, but I’m not a natural right to lefter soo. Plus I can’t actually see my edit to remember what I put.

PartyPooper2012 > ttyymmnn
02/13/2018 at 13:38

Kinja'd!!!

PartyPooper2012 > HammerheadFistpunch
02/13/2018 at 13:41

6/2(1+2)

That appeared in your math text book for homework with no other explanations... If you read right to left, you get 1. if you read left to right, you get 9. At that point you just gotta give an apple to a teacher and hope for the best

HammerheadFistpunch > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 13:42

no, you read it left to right, because that’s how you always read math.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 13:43

Your format is unclear. Is the (1+2) in the numerator or denominator?

Anyway...

6/2 x (1+2)
6/2 x (3)
3 x (3)
9

Unless of course you meant:

6 / [2 x (1+2)]
6 / [2 x 3]
6 / 6
1

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 13:45

You do the parentheses first then go back through the problem as if there were no parentheses

PartyPooper2012 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
02/13/2018 at 13:45

exactly!

PartyPooper2012 > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
02/13/2018 at 13:47

go back through the problem from which end..... depends on how you read... right to left or left to right

TheRealBicycleBuck > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 13:51

Think of it as a fraction - a numerator and denominator (6/2) - adjacent to an operation in parentheses. The fraction should be simplified before the multiplication operation.

scoob > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 13:55

Username checks out.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 13:55

left to right like a god damn civilized person

facw > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 13:59

So as others have said, math is written in math, not in English, and left to right conventions apply regardless of which way you read your native language.

That said, I feel like this is sort of a crappy way to write the problem, since it seems there is confusion as to whether 2(1+2) should be treated as having an implicit parentheses around it (see here for example): https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/33215/what-is-48%C3%B7293 Even if we say it shouldn’t, it would still be better to write it in a way that avoids any confusion.

PartyPooper2012 > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
02/13/2018 at 14:00

I don’t even know who that is.... people eat tide pods these days.

facw > PartyPooper2012
02/13/2018 at 14:13

Anyway:

Kinja'd!!!

https://xkcd.com/992/

While I don’t use the order of operations ones, I have actually memorized and used “Karl Marx Gave The Proletariat Eleven Zeppelins”, “Microsoft Made No Profit From Anyone’s Zunes”, and yes, “Some Men Have Explosive Orgasms”