Viral Math Problem

New York Post ^ | August 1, 2019 | Frank Miles

[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.

[P.O.E.]

Division is the reciprocal of multiplication, so one could rewrite it as 8/2 (or 4) then times the result of the parenthetical.

So yes, 16

[buffyt]

16

[spokeshave]

That is correct

[HandBasketHell]

The answer is 16 and there is nothing ambiguous about it.

Put it into any calculator the way it is presented here, and it'll give the answer of 16.

The rules to do this are called Order of Operations. The following take precedence in the order they are given:

1. Parentheses

2. Exponents (i.e. powers and roots)

3. Multiply and Divide (equal precedence, apply as they occur from left to right)

4. Addition and Subtraction (equal precedence, apply as they occur from left to right.

The anagram PEMDAS is often used to remember these rules.

So for 8/2(2+2)

You must do (2+2) first.

Now it becomes 8/2(4), which is the same as 8/2x4

All that remains now is multiplication and division, which have equal precedence and you apply left to right as they occur:

So 8/2 is 4.

Thus 8/2x4 becomes 4x4, which is then 16.

Note that 8/2x4 is NOT 8/8. That only happens if you have 8/(2x4). Without the parentheses, you must do 8/2 first, which is 4, and then multiply 4 by 4.

[CatOwner]

A nice detailed explanation, and I believe the correct one. 16.

[HombreSecreto]

Agree - 16

[buffyt]

16

I looked it up
https://www.bing.com/search?q=solution+to+8%c3%b72(2%2b2)&form=EDGTCT&qs=CM&cvid=c09ff2c6f43e443ba3616631c244bb9b&refig=586343cd2064496b9b9e2b52f761edf3&cc=US&setlang=en-US&elv=AXK1c4IvZoNqPoPnS%21QRLOMYfF1p5Gzdr9GqK83rKl3jy7tU7q3tz0fe3deJeBHaxsyG8TbuGXpb2eCJ2htiqIx8bgSQ%2185qPaJzZNdDIH12&plvar=0&PC=LCTS

I will ask hubby when he wakes up, he is a math genius.

[RoosterRedux]

Not 8 times whatever but 8 divided by whatever.

[buffyt]

I agree with this one, will ask Mr Math Genius

[richardtavor]

it equals Global Warming.

[nuconvert]

I don’t know where you were taught, but PEMDAS is what we were taught. As you can see, the problem is whether you do the mult or the div first

[central_va]

1

[Bonemaker]

1 or 16.

[golux]

Clearly the “problem” has nothing to do with numbers and everything to do with a carbon-spewing white supremacist capitalist system infused by Bush / Trump’s zionist chauvinist womb-invading global terrorists with western symbols and sequences that are designed to confuse and wreak havoc on women, people of color, and struggling minorities but of course not asians. Until there is a revolution, until there is justice, there can be NO PEACE. And THAT, my friends, is the answer.

[Bulwyf]

British Columbia and Alberta.

Electrical code of engineering will be the same. Was also taught that in the airforce after I left the infantry.

I wasn’t even aware there was a different acronym. This is like Americans refusal to use Robertson screws and bits which are far superior to Philips, but because Robertson was invented in Canada, the people that decide this in the US won’t do it. Heh.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

The ambiguity is due to the misuse of parentheses.

(8/2)(2+2)=16, or 8/(2(2+2))=1

[nuconvert]

Lol. Philips here.
So here in lies the problem. That’s why it depends where in the world you learned math.

[broken_arrow1]

Get’s my vote.

[GnuThere]

I came up with Cofefe.

[walkingdead]

Yep the answer is 1. Always work you parentheses first and if multiples work from inside out.