The answer is 2 and always will be 2.

Truthfuly i don't use calculators unless i really need it for  calculations like getting the root values of non solvable roots or powering fractions. the reason being that different calculatos are programmed differently (as in this case, checked my Polish calculator, it gave me a 2, checked my firends calculator form england and gave me 288).

Maybe the difference comes from how notations are treated in different parts of the world?

Personally I have been taught the BODMAS rule from childhood. So basically you solve anything inside the bracket, orders of magnitude, division, multiplication, addition and subtraction respectively.

The problem we have is:
48÷2(3+9)

Applying the above rule we first do the operation inside the bracket:
3+9=12

Keeping in mind that the relation between anything inside the bracket with anything outside it is just a multiplication (example: 3(5) is the same as 3*5 which both equal 15), we perform the division in this problem:
48÷2=24

Finally we perform the bracket multiplication:
24(12)=288

So to show everything in order:
48÷2(3+9)
=48÷2(12)
=24(12)
=288

Just as an extra, typing the exact equation as it is given into excel gives 288 as well. Of course that's how excel was programmed anyway.

Essentially this is a simple notation problem and how you approach it. Problems like these are very contextual.

I'm not sure why people would still say 2 after everything we've said in this thread :/

There's no doubt in my mind that it is 288.

Haha ;)

This also reminds me of one of my favourite quotes:

"Remember, there are no stupid answers, just stupid people." ;P

Here's an old sort of mathematician joke:

5 cents = (25 cents)^1/2 = (1/4 dollars)^1/2 = 1/2 dollars = 50 cents

Yes exactly, as someone who does physics at university we have to pretty much fill our entire equation with brackets to avoid problems like these. They should have put another bracket infront of the 2 like you did if they wanted the final answer to be 2.

If you use sofware packages like excel, you have to put the brackets in to get 2. In fact I put the exact equation into excel right now and it gives 288. Of course you could argue the programmers made it use the order we are using, but I think this is the norm, at least where I am from anyway.

It's two. The answer is two. BODMAS would suggest 288, but it's 2.

What.

How is the answer one? By your own method the expressions (i.e. this isn't an equation; it would have to equal something, like zero from the start, to be one) work out as follows:

6x²+x / x*(4x+2x+1)

6(x^2) + x / [x * (4x + 2x + 1)] = 6(x^2) + x / [6 * (x^2) + x] = 6(x^2) + 1 / (6x + 1)

Unless it equals one from the start, this expression has no definitive answer.

This is how I'd simplify it:

6(x^2) + x / x * (4x + 2x + 1) = 6(x^2) + (1 / 1) * (6x + 1) = 6(x^2) + 6x + 1

I mean, just how would you guys solve this one:

7x / 14(x^2) / 7x

Would you go straight left to right, or would you pretend that 7x to the far right is back in the numerator again?