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48÷2(9+3) =

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48÷2(9+3) =

  • ?

  • 288

  • 2

Results are only viewable after voting.
SSSnail said:
Good thing computers and things that requires precise calculations knows exactly which orders to calculate and carry out functions. Else we'd be in a world of hurt.

Can you imagine? "Hmm... don't know if that light should be green yet, if I switch this order of calculation around, it shouldn't be for another 36 seconds... hmm... what to do..."
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The equation wasn't written for computers. It was written for humans to read.
 
NuclearNed said:
It does make perfect sense mathematically in that if one standard or the other is used, all ambiguity in the equation in the OP is removed.
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Yes, which is why I modified my original posting (though you quoted the modified one). But I am unsure as to why you would, in this context, use another standard. I am not in Computer Science though, so I am sure someone else could probably explain to me why that standard is used in some cases to begin with.
 
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To be fair, if you're a coder, you're probably gonna say 2. VB, SQL, ASP, it all resolves the 2(9+3) before doing the rest.
 
SSSnail said:
Who the fuck do you think put those RULES into those computers? Those humans are reading it wrong. Good thing we don't trust many humans doing many things.
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but you gotta look at what we know as math... it's all idealogy...

and we know now idealogy doesnt stand up to facts.. or physics... and we dont even know physics at this point???? i mean..do we really?
 
I went with 2. Excel says 288.

It's the shitty way it's written. Once we got past grade 3, my math teachers almost never touched the divide symbol. Since you can't type denominators, it is often assumed that anything to the right of "/" or the divide symbol is part of the denominator.
 
Let's kill this multiplication before division nonsense:

Change the "÷2" into "*0.5." What answer do you get?
 
James3shin said:
Let's kill this multiplication before division nonsense:

Change the "÷2" into "*0.5." What answer do you get?
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The division symbol carries with it an explicit order of precedence, as does the multiplication symbol. You cannot interchange them without fundamentally changing the equation. In other words, "÷2" does not equal "*0.5." because of the "metadata" that resides in each of those strings.
 
NuclearNed said:
The division symbol carries with it an explicit order of precedence, as does the multiplication symbol. You cannot interchange them without fundamentally changing the equation. In other words, "÷2" does not equal "*0.5." because of the "metadata" that resides in each of those strings.
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How does multiplication have precedence over division? Where in math does it say that division is to be preceded by multiplication at all times? "My Dear Aunt Sally" is a mnemonic to a misleading guideline taught to grade school students.

The only way I can think of people answering "2" is if they are inserting/implying that there is a bracket or parentheses around the "2(9+3)."
 
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Regardless of the answer (which is 288) .99999999999999etc still equals 1, right?
 
James3shin said:
How does multiplication have precedence over division? Where in math does it say that division is to be preceded by multiplication at all times? "My Dear Aunt Sally" is a mnemonic to a misleading guideline taught to grade school students.

The only way I can think of people answering "2" is if they are inserting/implying that there is a bracket or parentheses around the "2(9+3)."
Click to expand...

read the article linked in my earlier post. There are plenty of sources that say that multiplicaton takes precedence over division - it's not just a "misleading guideline". According to the article, this is in fact the classical definition of mathematical order of precedence, which would make the answer 2.
 
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