My vote ties it at 67 votes each! 2 was winning up until that point
You wouldn't do 2 x12 before the division if following the BODMAS rules.
You wouldn't do 2 x12 before the division if following the BODMAS rules.
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Solve this simple math problem: 48/2(9+3)
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iStudentUK
macrumors 65816
I was taught BODMAS (Brackets, order ...) when I was about 10. Then you never use it again so long as people learn to write maths equations properly.
To all the people arguing that the answer is 288 and not 2 and linked to the wikipedia page on the order of operations to prove their point: if you actually bothered to read the page you linked to, you would have seen this:
Some people will say 2, others will say 288 and it has nothing to do with their math skills but only with the convention they use.
To give the only right answer to the original question: don't write an expression in such a retarded way 😛
That's probably why Spotlight gives a different answer if you write the expression with or without the "*".
Some people will say 2, others will say 288 and it has nothing to do with their math skills but only with the convention they use.
To give the only right answer to the original question: don't write an expression in such a retarded way 😛
gnasher729
Suspended
So what experience do you have with that? Trivial example: What is the meaning of ℕ? Is the zero included or not? Does ⊂ mean the same as ⊆ or does it mean the same as ⊊? There is no universal agreement on either. More trivial example: What you call "math" is called "maths" elsewhere.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)
For me:
48/2(9+3) = 2 though i would want it to be 288
And
48/2 (9+3) = 288
I always hate it when professors leave out the parenthesis for trigonometry.
For me:
48/2(9+3) = 2 though i would want it to be 288
And
48/2 (9+3) = 288
I always hate it when professors leave out the parenthesis for trigonometry.
KnightWRX
macrumors Pentium
As a programmer, I find this comment highly insulting. Tell that to my compiler.
McGiord
macrumors 601
That statement means that 2(12) should be done before the division.
So then the answer is 2.
McGiord
macrumors 601
So you get paid for entering equations online? Or when you are studying you enter them online? Why you do that?
iStudentUK
macrumors 65816
Don't panic
macrumors 603
are we still debating over this?
if we stay to basic math, it depends on how you read the / sign
if it only refers to the immediately following expression then you'd have
(48/2)*(9+3)=288
if it refers to everything following, then you'd have
48/[2*(9+3)]=2
it is poorly written (or more likely purposely ambiguously written), but in such cases the left-to-right rule should prevail, making it 288. on the other hand, square brackets are way cooler than round brackets, making 2 the cool answer.
if we move to postadvanced math however, it is clear that "/" separates two expressions: 48 and 2(9+3);
- as someone already mentioned above, absence of the operator implies multiplication, so 48=4*8. now, everyone knows that by the reciprocal inversity properties multiplication is the opposite of division, therefore 4 multiplied by 8 must be equal to 8 divided by 4, which is most obviously 2 (on the left part of the expression);
- now to the right part. this is easy. Ignoring the round bracket (which as mentioned are uncool), you have 2*9+3, which gives you a very straightforward 21;
- so now we have 2/21, which as demonstrated above is equal to 21*2, which is (i hope no one disagrees on this) 42.
so please now stop with your earthlingy bickering: the answer is always 42. 🙄🙄🙄
if we stay to basic math, it depends on how you read the / sign
if it only refers to the immediately following expression then you'd have
(48/2)*(9+3)=288
if it refers to everything following, then you'd have
48/[2*(9+3)]=2
it is poorly written (or more likely purposely ambiguously written), but in such cases the left-to-right rule should prevail, making it 288. on the other hand, square brackets are way cooler than round brackets, making 2 the cool answer.
if we move to postadvanced math however, it is clear that "/" separates two expressions: 48 and 2(9+3);
- as someone already mentioned above, absence of the operator implies multiplication, so 48=4*8. now, everyone knows that by the reciprocal inversity properties multiplication is the opposite of division, therefore 4 multiplied by 8 must be equal to 8 divided by 4, which is most obviously 2 (on the left part of the expression);
- now to the right part. this is easy. Ignoring the round bracket (which as mentioned are uncool), you have 2*9+3, which gives you a very straightforward 21;
- so now we have 2/21, which as demonstrated above is equal to 21*2, which is (i hope no one disagrees on this) 42.
so please now stop with your earthlingy bickering: the answer is always 42. 🙄🙄🙄
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KnightWRX
macrumors Pentium
Yes, because the uninitiated that claim this is ambiguous keep popping up. Oh wait...
If you read it as anything other than a division, you need to go back to school.
Only for those with a lack of understanding of basic math. Again, the problem is not the equation per say, it's the people that don't understand mathematics.
but in such cases the left-to-right rule should prevail, making it 288. on the other hand, square brackets are way cooler than round brackets, making 2 the cool answer.
Hum, no it's not. Where did you this "clarity" from ? / is the division sign. Even if it is a fraction sign, 48/2 is the obvious fraction. Anything else requires assumptions and interpretations which have no room in mathematics.
iStudentUK
macrumors 65816
Nobody uses / when writing down by hand (they do when programming on a computer- fine), or at least they shouldn't. It doesn't matter if / has a strict definition if it is not strictly enforced. I did a chemistry degree, and that obviously involves maths. Yet, if someone had emailed by an equation like this I would have asked for clarification, because I know they are thinking in terms of two lines (using ______).
I'd say it is an assumption to presume that / literally means / in this case. The most likely scenario is it is only being used because this is a forum, in writing (or in proper software like LaTex) it would be written on two lines. The most logical answer is 288; however, I can't say what the original author intended.
It's a joke. The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Note the username is Don't Panic.
What do you get if you times 6 by 9?
KnightWRX
macrumors Pentium
This wasn't written by hand, it was typed out on a computer. You can save any other arguments you have on the subject, because they don't apply here based on your flawed premise.
balamw
Moderator emeritus
Golf clap. Well done! However, on your next trip, I suggest you keep your distance from the improbability drive. 😛
Now that we got the answer, I forget: What was the question again?
Please rephrase that with the variables x,y,a,b,c,d I was using in the post. It sure sounds like you are saying that just because there are parentheses around an expression, the operators adjacent to the parens gain some kid of precedence.
What do you make of the expression from the Wikipedia page?
10 - 3 + 2
Is that 9 or 5?
Let's force the issue a bit more, what is the value of:
10 - 3 + ( 1 + 1)
If the brackets/parens create some kind of precedence around them you should get the same answer as someone who is giving addition precedence over subtraction.
B
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iStudentUK
macrumors 65816
To treat this as a programming line or whatever is a simplification. People don't think / they think __ . That is how we should interpret this equation, leading to 288.
KnightWRX
macrumors Pentium
Where did you get that I'm not in the 288 camp ? That is the proper answer, the equation is not ambiguous.
Don't panic
macrumors 603
SMHL
if you ever manage to climb down from that very high chair of yours, i humbly suggest you relax a bit by reading a good book.
this would be a good start 😉
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balamw
Moderator emeritus
I do wonder if the late, great DNA would have joined us here on MR. He would have fit in perfectly.
B
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iStudentUK
macrumors 65816
I know you are in the 288 camp. It's odd we agree but don't at the same time!
You say the answer is 288.
I say the likely answer is 288.
I can't go so far as to say the answer is 288 as I don't think it is correct to take / at face value. I don't think that is what the author intended.
EDIT- Just noticed my avatar shows this! People using horizontal lines not diagonal. Feel silly I didn't notice earlier!
balamw
Moderator emeritus
PEBCAK. (see earlier in the thread).
The answer of what was typed is 288. If the entity between the keyboard and chair meant something else, they should have typed something else.
The problem isn't with the expression it's with the wetware.
B
iStudentUK
macrumors 65816
That's all well and good on a forum, but the intention of the author can matter a lot more in real-world scenarios. I completed a my master's research year in chemistry last year, and that involved a lot of equations. If someone in my group had sent me a quick email with this equation I would expect to see-
(48/2)(9+3) or 48/[2(9+3)]
This is even more important when the equations I was using were a lot more complex!
Nobody in the group thought in terms of /, I've never met a scientist or mathematician who thought in these terms. To treat a / at face value when there were no brackets to verify the exact meaning would have been silly. It could have meant hours or days of wasted work and analysis, and that makes it my problem!
Wrong. As I posted, the expression as typed here is ambiguous because its interpretation depends on the conventions used. It has nothing to do with understanding or not mathematics. Both 2 and 288 are correct answers, according to the conventions you used.
I don't get why some people think that "/" is somehow a separator or something. That is a mystery to me. But the original expression could be interpreted as 48/(2*(9+3)) if you're in the juxtaposition=grouping clan.
balamw
Moderator emeritus
Step back a bit. Someone in your group would actually send you an expression that was full of constant numbers rather than reducing that to the answer?
As s a physicist by training I hate it when the meaning is bled out of an expression, by rote plugging in of numbers. Engineers love to do this kind of thing and take a perfectly nice equation, lump a bunch of stuff together and take a few implied logs for good measure and think it still has meaning. 😛
I'd expect anyone who knows what they are doing to send something like x/y(a+b) rather than 48/2(9+3). Preferably with an extra pair of parens/brackets to improve clarity. Or send you TeX $\frac{x}{y}(a+b)$ or even code if this was a numerical exercise. This would assist in your sanity checking if, for example, you saw that x was a distance, y was a time and a and b were also times and you knew the expected answer was a distance you'd know that (x/y)*(a+b) was meant. If you were looking for acceleration you might go back to the author and ask, "did you mean (x/[y*(a+b)])?" instead of taking the original expression at its face value.
In the absence of context and any other information the answer is 288.
B
I've read 2 pages, and that's 2 pages more than I should. I can't parse this in any way other than to answer it as 2; I agree that it is written ambiguously - while a calculator is cold and impersonal, I see it as a numerator of 48 and a denominator of 2(9+3). It's not the 2 camp doing multiplication before division out of some misunderstand of how order of operations works, it's us completing all the operations in the denominator before we solve the fraction. I assume any time I see a division symbol that it takes the place of a bar in traditional handwriting.
Unfortunately, there's not any way to express this clearly in a single line without some more parentheses. If you presented me with the expression "a/b(c+d)" in any form, I'd parse it the same way every time. If you are intending for the problem to read in such a way to get 288, I'd expect to see "(a/b)(c+d)".
Unfortunately, there's not any way to express this clearly in a single line without some more parentheses. If you presented me with the expression "a/b(c+d)" in any form, I'd parse it the same way every time. If you are intending for the problem to read in such a way to get 288, I'd expect to see "(a/b)(c+d)".
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