To: mentor2k
Thats cool, tricky aint it?
Yes....considering I'm thinking about changing my mind again after reading a post at
physics forums discussing the very same problem. A dude there has a very convincing argument that:
The general consensus among math people is that "multiplication by juxtaposition" (that is, multiplying by just putting things next to each other, rather than using the "×" sign) indicates that the juxtaposed values must be multiplied together before processing other operations.
This is strengthened by a link at
ask dr. math that provides a broken link to the American Mathematical Society (AMS) as a source.
Sure wish the link wasn't broken....but heck....I think I'm going back to my original argument.
To: mmichaels1970
If it’s not written into the formal rules of mathematical precedence (aka order of operations), what he is saying is untrue. I have checked several websites for precedence rules, and the lack of a formal operator isn’t even mentioned - it’s just a lazy shorthand.
160 posted on
04/12/2011 2:50:27 PM PDT by
MortMan
(What disease did cured ham used to have?)
To: mmichaels1970
I read that in the Physics forum, however, the vote was pretty evenly split. One convencing arguement I read was that the format was flawed by using the division sign instead of the slash (/) sign. That division indicates you proceed with the left to right rule and the answer is 288. Otherwise, if the slash was used, I would agree the answer is 2.
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