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Forums - General Discussion - Mathematical dispute

Vertigo-X on 29 July 2012
Boutros said:

Ding ding ding! The bottom is how people are getting the answer of two. :)



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Ssenkahdavic on 29 July 2012

48 ÷2(3+9) = 2

48 ÷2 * (3+9) = 288

Since the equation in question is written as the top example, that is "llikely" the answer that they are looking for.  You could make a very strong argument for either case.

Funny thing is, I went and looked in an old math book to see how they answered a like equation.  I could not find one written like the above (they would put the extra 48 ÷(2(3+9)) or( 48 ÷2)(3+9) but never without them.)



 

  

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TWRoO on 29 July 2012
yanamaster said:
Vertigo-X said:
IIIIITHE1IIIII said:
I think they should have written: 48/(2(3+9)) if they wanted to make sure that the answer is 2.

Still, I'm not too certain if the number 2 is part of the brackets or not. And different mathematicians come up with different answers so I really don't see the discussion value.

In school I was taught that there may be two different ways of solving this, by the way.


On your first part, that is right. If you solve the parenthesis portion first, the resulting number becomes ordinary; there is no special rule that applies to it. Simply having the two next to it doesn't mean it's automatically distributed; the distributive property is a way of simplifying  and not an actual order of operation.

 

Like you said, if people want to get two for an answer, they'd need to place brackets around the two and the parenthesis. Think of it this way: how would you put this into a calculator? You'd put additional brackets around the 2(3+9) if you wanted the answer to be two. :)


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?

I actually got the answer 4 on my scientific calculator, but that's because it's older than me and doesn't understand if i put a bracket directly after a number... I have to add in the multiplication sign and get the 288 answer.



mai on 29 July 2012
Ssenkahdavic said:
48 ÷2(3+9) = 2

48 ÷2 * (3+9) = 288

Since the equation in question is written as the top example, that is the answer.

I believe the whole deal was the order of the operations, which is left to right unless put in parentheses. If it's  48/2(3+9)  then it's equals 2. "/" meaning "48" is numerator and "2(3+9)" is denominator, of course. Basically it's a test of your attention.

It's 288 in both of your cases. You failed :D



chapset on 29 July 2012

if it was 48÷2*12 the answer would be 288 but because of the parenthesis, you need to multiplie the number next to it first, 48÷2(3+9) would turn into 48÷(6+18)=48÷(24)=2



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Ssenkahdavic on 29 July 2012
mai said:
Ssenkahdavic said:
48 ÷2(3+9) = 2

48 ÷2 * (3+9) = 288

Since the equation in question is written as the top example, that is the answer.

I believe the whole deal was the order of the operations, which is left to right unless put in parentheses. If it's  48/2(3+9)  then it's equals 2. "/" meaning "48 is numerator and "2(3+9)" is denominator, of course. Basically it's a test of your attention.

It's 288 in both of your cases. You failed :D

You quoted before I was finished, check it again.  Either way, based soley on how it was written, you could make a compelling argument for either case.  



 

  

The Only True Next Gen Game - Hero-U

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
Robert A. Heinlein

Vertigo-X on 29 July 2012
Ssenkahdavic said:

48 ÷2(3+9) = 2

48 ÷2 * (3+9) = 288

Since the equation in question is written as the top example, that is "llikely" the answer that they are looking for.  You could make a very strong argument for either case.

Funny thing is, I went and looked in an old math book to see how they answered a like equation.  I could not find one written like the above (they would put the extra 48 ÷(2(3+9)) or( 48 ÷2)(3+9) but never without them.)

The top example is assuming the distributive property is a part of the order of operations; it's not. 2(3+9) is the same thing as 2*(3+9) in terms of the orders of operation.

 

EDIT: It also suggests that multiplication is to be used before division, which isn't the case.



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Vertigo-X on 29 July 2012
mai said:
Ssenkahdavic said:
48 ÷2(3+9) = 2

48 ÷2 * (3+9) = 288

Since the equation in question is written as the top example, that is the answer.

I believe the whole deal was the order of the operations, which is left to right unless put in parentheses. If it's  48/2(3+9)  then it's equals 2. "/" meaning "48" is numerator and "2(3+9)" is denominator, of course. Basically it's a test of your attention.

It's 288 in both of your cases. You failed :D


/ is the same thing as ÷.



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aikohualda on 29 July 2012

follow PEMDAS
parenthesis, exponents, multiplication =division, addition =subtraction... i always use that for hierarchy.....

so my answer would be 288

48/2(3+9)

48/2(12)

24/12

288



 

sundin13 on 29 July 2012

im pretty sure the answer is 288. the Parenthesis/Brackets only applies to the things in the parenthesis, not the things outside of it. That is just a normal multiplication


EDIT: also, multiplication and division are equivalent in order of operations