Mathematics Question

[Hans Tucker]

Ok .. please humour me on this. I always thought Mathematics was meant to be definitive ... but maybe not.

Using the methods you were taught at school provide an answer for the following, please no calculators easy enough to do in your head.

8÷2 (2+2)=

[RB]

16

[Sunfish]

+1.
Parentheses first.
Then left to right I think.

[multiweb]

...

[Hans Tucker]

Well one of the two is against it .. the other decided to play. :D

[DiscoDuck]

16 "+ 1" would be 17 :)

[astro744]

The web is full of examples like this. Do this on an old calculator and you get a different answer to doing the calculation on a new calculator. Apparently the rules haves changed in modern times.

Note there should only be one answer but it is similar to a poorly written sentence in which the meaning is ambiguous. I first came across these problems on YouTube videos by Presh Talwalker from Mind Your Decisions. Lots of great math problems there. Enjoy!

https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCHnj59g7jezwTy5GeL8EA_g

Here is a similar problem with an explanation.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=URcUvFIUIhQ

Another good math site PreMath at https://m.youtube.com/c/PreMath

[Sunfish]

Ha. Good one.
BTW I was reading that the division sign should not be used in international mathematics notation.

Use the slash.

[GrahamL]

Is it 1 ?.. from school i'm thinking 16 is right.

[FlashDrive]

16 ....as far as I can remember you do the numbers in the ( ) first.

so...2+2 = 4 .... then do the 8 divided by 2 = 4 .... you then multiply 4 x 4 = 16.

equals 16.

Col.

[Hans Tucker]

When you apply the rule BODMAS (Bracket, Order, Division, Multiplication, Addition, and Subtraction) you get the answer 16 which I believe is the correct answer.

A term I have never heard of, PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction), is used by students in the US.

[Sunfish]

I think that was levity. The answer is definitely 16

[Atmos]

The answer is 42, geez :lol:

[mura_gadi]

Gee, I'm old, that was called order of operations when I was a kid...

2+2x2 = 6, is the basic intro one....



Steve

[xelasnave]

You use the fingers on your left hand first.
Alex

[Stonius]

Well since we're talking about our workings anyway...


I was taught BODMAS



8÷2 (2+2)



Brackets first

=8/2 (4)


Division next
=4 (4)


Multiplication next
=16


I don't consider myself to be good at maths, but I believe this is how I was taught.


Markus

[PKay]

This has already been worked out by a super computer.
The answer is 42...

[Zuts]

Not many people would use this notation as it is confusing

8÷2 (2+2)=

rather

8/2(2+2)

(8/2)(2+2)

16

[Steffen]

Ah, but that’s local bias. On the northern hemisphere they use the fingers on the right hand first!

[leon]

The way i remember it is ( ) first = 4, then 8 divided by 2 = 4, then x 4x4 = 16.

Leon

[xelasnave]

Perhaps the problem should be presented more clearly.
(8 division sign here there not being one on my phone 2)(2+2)
I thought 16 to be the answer after I took off my slippers.
Alex

[JA]

That is SO TRUE Alex, but I suppose the point of such BODMAS examples is to challenge people's knowledge of the order of operations.

In science, engineering, mathematics, etc, you would rarely see the division operator (dash with a dot above and below) used for just such reasons. Instead you would probably see one of 2 options, One with an answer of 16, or one with the answer of 1, depending on what was intended by the author

278252

Not withstanding that, the example presented in this thread (Hello Hans:hi:) is a good test of the knowledge on the order of operations.

Best
JA

[xelasnave]

Thanks JA what I dont get is why dont they ever just write the damn answer.
Alex

[JA]

The answer is always x mate :D

Best
JA