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re: The Internet finally catches up to the OT, about 10 years late

Posted on 5/31/25 at 8:59 am to
Posted by Sam Quint
Member since Sep 2022
7112 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 8:59 am to
quote:

As someone who teaches math, this captures why people hate it. The only interesting thing here is unclear notation, which undermines the point of learning math at all

Yes. Throwing in that stupid divide signal just confuses everyone and makes the problem unclear. I don't think I ever used or saw the divide symbol a single time in college (engineering)
Posted by Art Vandelay
LOUISIANA
Member since Sep 2005
11185 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 9:05 am to
quote:

Multiplication denoted by juxtaposition (also known as implied multiplication) creates a visual unit and is often given higher precedence than most other operations. In academic literature, when inline fractions are combined with implied multiplication without explicit parentheses, the multiplication is conventionally
interpreted as having higher precedence than division, so that e.g. 1 / 2n is interpreted to mean 1 / (2 · n) rather than (1 / 2) · n.[2][10][14][15] For instance, the manuscript submission instructions for the Physical Review journals directly state that multiplication has precedence over division,[16] and this is also the convention observed in physics textbooks such as the Course of Theoretical Physics by Landau and Lifshitz[c] and mathematics textbooks such as Concrete Mathematics by Graham, Knuth, and Patashnik.[17] However, some authors recommend against expressions such as a / bc, preferring the explicit use of parenthesis a / (bc).[3] More complicated cases are more ambiguous. For instance, the notation 1 / 2p(a + b) could plausibly mean either 1 / [2p · (a + b)] or [1 / (2p)] · (a + b).[18] Sometimes interpretation depends on context. The Physical Review submission instructions recommend against expressions of the form a / b / c; more explicit expressions (a / b) / c or a / (b / c) are unambiguous.[16] 6÷2(1+2) is interpreted as 6÷(2×(1+2)) by a fx-82MS (upper), and (6÷2)×(1+2) by a TI-83 Plus calculator (lower), respectively. This ambiguity has been the subject of Internet memes such as "8 ÷ 2(2 + 2)", for which there are two conflicting interpretations: 8 ÷ [2 · (2 + 2)] = 1 and (8 ÷ 2) · (2 + 2) = 16.[15][19] Mathematics education researcher Hung-Hsi Wu points out that "one never gets a computation of this type in real life", and calls such contrived examples "a kind of Gotcha! parlor game designed to trap an unsuspecting person by phrasing it in terms of a set of unreasonably convoluted rules".[12]
Posted by alajones
Huntsvegas
Member since Oct 2005
35291 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 10:15 am to
quote:

Pemdas
It’s not enough to just say PEMDAS because people forget the left to right part of the MD and just remember the MD order. That’s why it’s so hard for people.
Posted by LegendInMyMind
Member since Apr 2019
66915 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 11:14 am to
Math isn't real.
Posted by sqerty
AP
Member since May 2022
7363 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 11:32 am to
It may not be, but a I felt real smart when I got 288
Posted by LegendInMyMind
Member since Apr 2019
66915 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 11:38 am to
quote:

It may not be, but a I felt real smart when I got 288

They have you right where they want you.
Posted by junkfunky
Member since Jan 2011
35087 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 11:39 am to
The answer is 2.....gross.
Posted by prplhze2000
Parts Unknown
Member since Jan 2007
54987 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 11:55 am to
I watched that mathematician's video.

He said it was the right way to do it because a CALCULATOR said it was. Yeah.

He admitted in the books it would be two because you multiply the 2 by the parenthesis, then divide into 48. also said it was how it used to be.
Posted by UFFan
Planet earth, Milky Way Galaxy
Member since Aug 2016
2330 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 11:57 am to
It's not very hard to get to the 24 x 12 part.

Once you get there, you generally learn the multiplication table up to 12 x 12= 144 in elementary school. (At least that's what the multiplication table I learned went up to.) And it's not that hard to calculate in your head that 144 x 2= 288.

You can do this whole thing without a calculator.
This post was edited on 5/31/25 at 12:01 pm
Posted by Gaston
Dirty Coast
Member since Aug 2008
41300 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 12:00 pm to
Guess you didn’t see my posts on the last page. The answer is 2…

I went out to my car, got my laptop, fired up MathCad Prime and…I can make it get 288 as well, but it’s 2.
Posted by GregMaddux
LSU Fan
Member since Jun 2011
18462 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 12:07 pm to
quote:

The Internet finally catches up to the OT, about 10 years late


Pretty sure the OT stole this from the internet at the time.
Posted by UFFan
Planet earth, Milky Way Galaxy
Member since Aug 2016
2330 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 12:12 pm to
This math problem was "viral" in 2019. There's a 2019 Business Insider article about this problem.
LINK

I don't think I've seen this math problem since 2019. I had pretty much completely forgotten about this 2019 controversy until the OP refreshed my memory about it.

I don't know why the OP is posting about it now.
Posted by forkedintheroad
Member since Feb 2025
416 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 12:12 pm to
quote:

The long horizontal line means you are dividing or taking some number from below the line.


Wrong!

Subtraction is taking from, not division.
Posted by VooDude
Member since Aug 2017
1474 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 1:09 pm to
quote:

How is the answer not 2?


Anyone ever tell you that you have girly hand writing?
Posted by Born to be a Tiger1
Somewhere lost in Texas
Member since Jan 2018
734 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 1:30 pm to
That math answer is two gross for me.
Posted by roobedoo
hall summit
Member since Jun 2008
1228 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 2:18 pm to
Sorry, in my analogy, you have less whole apples but more pieces.
Posted by reggierayreb
Member since Nov 2012
18152 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 2:41 pm to
That's AR not AI


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