re: This math problem is clearly only for geniuses...

KG, I also have a BS in Mechanical Engineering. By the time you get to college, the assumption is that you have these basics down, but I am not sure about the left to right idea being taught directly anymore or, now that you mention it, even back in my day (graduated HS in 1980) but I always understood that to be the case, possibly due to the fact that we are taught to read left to right and the brain would logically put that together. I do know that in the absence of parenthesis, the operation is performed on the next object in line clearly pointed out by the fact the 4/2=2 and not .5

Typically, you will never see an equation written in the way this problem was presented unless it is an exercise like this. Parenthesize for clarity has always been my rule.

PS. you can tell we're nerds by how much time we've spend on this subject.

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for example, if 1/2 is meant to represent the division operation of 1 divided by 2 - and not a fractional value within the equation

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Please explain to me what the difference between 1÷2 and 1/2. I was taught in the third grade that they were equivalent. The result certainly is.

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haphazard use of / as a division operator

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It is, in my experience, a far more common practice to use / than ÷.

Wrong

I'm getting 9.

Didn't read. Just wanted to see if I was trashy or not.

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3+3-3x0+3=?!?!?!

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I seem to recall that when there is multiplication or division in a string of operations along with addition or subtraction, the multiplication and/or division are applied first. So...

3 x 0 = 0

3 + 3 - 0 + 3 = 9?

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3+3-3x0+3= 3

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Hope people who post this are only doing so to stir the pot cause it is depressing seeing this answer posted so many times.

I get what you're saying, I suppose. That it may be clearer to evaluate the equation for many. It really comes down to how much we are taught (or not taught) some very basic principles of mathematics that really only are important in these academic type exercises.

Typically people use parenthesis to clarify equations and usually actually segregate equations by operator type. So you rarely see 2 x 4 / 5 x 3 but rather 2 x 3 x 4 / 5 because our brain typically resolves it that way for us.

I was taught that PEMDAS applies in reducing or expanding variable equations but never the left to right rule which doesn't matter so much as long as PEMDAS is applied correctly. The hang up here is that AS HAS to be treated separately from PEMD because both sides of the operator,+ or -, can not be treated independently of one another. whereas you can treat other operations as if each side is independent of the other. This is why (2x-2)^2 has to be FOILed:

(2x-2)^2 = (2x-2) (2x-2)
= 4x^2-8+4.
First
Outer
Inner
Last

Instead, if resolving the parentheses before squaring this would be wrong:

(2x-2)^2 = 4x^2+4.

In this case the LHS is already in its simplest form.

If you assume x=1 then both sides of the first equation resolve to zero; whereas 0 does not equal 8 using the 2nd method which treats both sides of the subtraction operator as independent of each other. This is why AS are at the end of PEMDAS.

I didn't say it does, friend.

Reread my post. In other words just squaring each term on the LHS in the second method, which is treating each side of the minus operator independently. That would be the wrong way which is why the FOIL method was developed.