math problem

[unassuming]

Saw this on CP24, this is going viral :


8 / 2 (2+2)=?

My answer is 1, others say answer is 16

rule of thumb-you do the brackets first is what I was taught.

 

[Jasmine Raine]

It's 1

Do the bracket first.

8/ 2(4)

8/ 8

=1

 

[Goodoer]

BEDMAS. Brackets first is correct. Then the Division comes before Multiplication. The answer is 16.

To me, if the answer was to be “1”, there would have to be another set of brackets around the portion of the equation after the division line.

 

[Jasmine Raine]

Is the 2 outside the bracket not the exponent so it would come next? Or is that wrong? The name?

I thought the 2 outside of the bracket was always apart if it in some way. From.researching online mathematician seem to say 1 is indeed the right answer.

 

[massman]

The way the question is written is ambiguous. Is it
Is it
8
- x (2+2)=16
2

Or
8
——— = 1
2x(2+2)

In both cases bedmas is used.

 

[Spacealien2]

The correct answer is 16.

That's what you get when you put this into your computer, 8/2*(2+2).

 

[Jasmine Raine]

The correct answer is 16.

That's what you get when you put this into your computer, 8/2*(2+2).

But that is not the same equation. You can't just change it around.

The question is about the 2 beside the brackets. Yes that means you multiply but not in the way you have written it and in math, that counts.

 

[drdemento]

Math is never ambiguous.

Brackets first. Then division and multiplication left to right followed by addition and subtraction left to right = 16

 

[Spacealien2]

But that is not the same equation. You can't just change it around.

The question is about the 2 beside the brackets. Yes that means you multiply but not in the way you have written it and in math, that counts.

I just tried googling 8/2(2+2), still 16! but yes, the way it is written is ambiguous.

 

[yomero5]

8/2 x (2+2) = 4 x 4 =16

It is NOT ambiguous, at all. The (2+2) is not the denominator, however, the first 2, is.

 

[bollock]

BODMAS is your friend .

 

[oldjones]

The way the question is written is ambiguous. Is it
Is it
8
- x (2+2)=16
2

Or
8
——— = 1
2x(2+2)

In both cases bedmas is used.

In fact the first version should be written more clearly as (⁸⁄₂)(2+2)=?, and the second version — an entirely different equation — as ⁸⁄₂(₂+₂)

It's not really a math problem, because each of the different equations one could read has its own correct answer. As you discovered and demonstrated, it is a typography problem for our primitively un-evolved keyboards and their un-practiced users. Goodoer nailed the simplest way to eliminate the ambiguity if the second is intended, and Google agrees with him.

Well-taught cursive writing doesn't have such problems. My Math teacher was one of the authors of the textbook. When he taught BOMDSA/BODMAS, he always said add/subtract were the same process so their order didn't matter, ditto with multiply/divide. As a teacher all that mattered was avoiding the giggles when you said BOMDAS aloud. Then he'd look smug while we did.

As always, on the WWWeebs: Ambiguity is easy; idiots are rampant: PROOFREAD. It is the only way to get your important truth across and avoid foolish disputes.

 

[whiteshaft]

8/2 x (2+2) = 4 x 4 =16

It is NOT ambiguous, at all. The (2+2) is not the denominator, however, the first 2, is.

WOW yomero! Great explanation and it reminds me of the way I was taught in math class way back when.

 

[massman]

In fact the first version should be written more clearly as (⁸⁄₂)(2+2)=?, and the second version — an entirely different equation — as ⁸⁄₂(₂+₂)

It's not really a math problem, because each of the different equations one could read has its own correct answer. As you discovered and demonstrated, it is a typography problem for our primitively un-evolved keyboards and their un-practiced users. Goodoer nailed the simplest way to eliminate the ambiguity if the second is intended, and Google agrees with him.

Well-taught cursive writing doesn't have such problems. My Math teacher was one of the authors of the textbook. When he taught BOMDSA/BODMAS, he always said add/subtract were the same process so their order didn't matter, ditto with multiply/divide. As a teacher all that mattered was avoiding the giggles when you said BOMDAS aloud. Then he'd look smug while we did.

As always, on the WWWeebs: Ambiguity is easy; idiots are rampant: PROOFREAD. It is the only way to get your important truth across and avoid foolish disputes.

What he said.

 

[yomero5]

WOW yomero! Great explanation and it reminds me of the way I was taught in math class way back when.

LOL, thanks.

 

[rhuarc29]

The answer is both. The problem isn't in the math, but in the methodology used.

 

[shakenbake]

Is the 2 outside the bracket not the exponent so it would come next? Or is that wrong? The name?

I thought the 2 outside of the bracket was always apart if it in some way. From.researching online mathematician seem to say 1 is indeed the right answer.

Not an exponent. However, the 2 is distributed to the contents of the brackets. The answer is 1.

 

[John Henry]

8/2 x (2+2) = 4 x 4 =16

It is NOT ambiguous, at all. The (2+2) is not the denominator, however, the first 2, is.

16 is the correct answer . 8 divided by 2 = 4 . 4 times 2+2 = 16

 

[unassuming]

Not an exponent. However, the 2 is distributed to the contents of the brackets. The answer is 1.

shakenbake is correct-"distributed" is the term that escaped my mind.

Basic algebra (distributive property:The Distributive Property is an algebra property which is used to multiply a single term and two or more terms inside a set of parentheses)

The answer is indeed 1.

 

[anon1]

The answer is 5.
The answer is always 5.