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I am getting a lot of people who say the answer is 9, but you can get 9 from 6/2(1+2) if you separate the 2 from the 2(1+2), which seems incorrect to me. I view the 2(1+2) as a complete phrase within the mathematical question, so I think it needs to be solved before you move left to right. 6/2(1+2) = 6/2(3) = 6/6 = 1 But there are a lot of people who want to write the question as 6/2 x (1+2), which is the only way you will get 9.

“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.

Texas Instruments TI-85 says: 48÷2(9+3) = 2 But Texas Instruments TI-86 says: 48÷2(9+3) = 288