"The Question is Moot!"
Posted on 08/01/2019 4:58:47 AM PDT by Renkluaf
“8÷2(2+2).” Can you solve this math problem? The equation went viral online this week on Twitter causing major confusion over the right answer. Mathematicians and physicists went nuts about it. Mike Breen, the Public Awareness Officer for the American Mathematical Society, told popular Mechanics: “The way it’s written, it’s ambiguous. In math, a lot of times there are ambiguities. Mathematicians try to make rules as precise as possible.” Depending on where in the world you learned math, as Mashable reported, determines how you can solve the problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
"The Question is Moot!"
1
Of course this isn’t math. This is convention. We have conventions on how to write these things just like we have conventions on how to spell stuff. But still, there are different conventions. Some people spell it as ‘gray’ and others as ‘grey.’ We still understand what’s going on. For me, I would write this more explicitly so that there is no confusion. Like this:
8/(2*(2+2)), if that’s what you are trying to do. That way no one will get it wrong.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/math/a28569610/viral-math-problem-2019-solved/
Wrong.
See posts 42 and 49. I trust the mathematicians at Wolfram Alpha over a random FReeper (no offense intended).
Sal Khan of Khan Academy and MIT was trained the same way IIRC.
No.. Multiplication and division are on the same level, and it goes left to right.
The answer is 16.
created with the intent to cause “viral”
8 ÷ 2(2+2) is not the same notation as 8 ÷ 2 * (2+2).
really???
Yes, really.
52 is a good argument... same equation... written differently, how do you explain the answer?
52 implies a second set of () or []. In other words, the equation in 52 would be written 8/[2(2+2)] or 8/(2(2+2)).
As I point out in post 42, the problem is poorly written. It is akin to how you would pronounce POLISH.
I think we both mean post 53, lol.
Fyi, the poster on 53 has a different answer on 61
first, it is pronounced POLISH and we will agree to disagree and when we meet outside the pearly gates, perhaps we can settle it there...
t
8
———— = 1
2(2 + 2)
This^^^^^. Simply put, read it like a sentence. 8 divided by 2 times 2+2.
By rewriting it as a fraction, the answer becomes more clear.
For clarity the equation should be like this 8 / (2(2+2))
Would you agree that the equation is poorly written and ambiguous?
See post 61...
yes... but post 52 is better written and the same equation and the answer is 1
hehehe
be good my friend
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