I'm not sure what you meant to write here, but I can guess. It's kind of tricky, as rules seem slightly different for variables, but I would hazard a guess at yes. It's ambiguous either way, although the original question is much less so.ACman said:So you're trying to tell me thatCerdog said:Some people's understanding of BIDMAS is shocking. When you take care of brackets, you do everything INSIDE the brackets. You don't expand them, you don't distribute them, you just do everything inside them. So you get:
48÷2(9+3) = 48÷2(12)
2(12) is EXACTLY THE SAME as 2x12. The brackets, at this point, are irrelevant. For people trying to subsitute x = 12 here, it doesn't work, as implied multiplication is a) ambiguous and b) works differently for variables.
No. You are completely missing the point of what everyone is saying. Even if you ignore the different rules for variables and constants, your maths is incorrect. Let's look at the first line:DaMullet said:Actually, I want to double check my work.
48/2(9+x)=2
48/(18+2x)=2
48=2(18+2x)
48=36+4x
48-36=4x
4x=12
x=3
Yup, still works.
/thread
48/2(9+x)=2
What you have done is distributed the 2 into the brackets. THIS IS INCORRECT. As this is multiplication, and not "part of the brackets", you have to do division and multiplication from left to right, as they have equal precedence. So rather than:
48/(18+2x)=2
you should have:
24(9+x)=2
216+24x = 2
24x = -214
x = -8.917
Which is not 3, obviously.
Despite your algebraic method, you are still falling for the trap that so many others are falling for, which is to assume that the 2 is part of the brackets, which is WRONG. Algebra does not make your answer more valid, especially when the core idea of the method, which happens to be what people have been trying to tell you is wrong, is completely overlooked.
.........AC
A ÷ BC = --
.........B
No.
If it were
A ÷ B * C
I might agree.
You too are completely missing the point. The coefficient is not "part of the brackets". The coefficient is just multiplication. That's it. It doesn't get priority because it's "attached" to the brackets, it's just more multiplication. The coefficient here is 48/2, because the division is written first.InfiniteSingularity said:So what you're saying is that expanding brackets doesn't work...right? Because I'm pretty sure that's what you're saying.Cerdog said:Some people's understanding of BIDMAS is shocking. When you take care of brackets, you do everything INSIDE the brackets. You don't expand them, you don't distribute them, you just do everything inside them. So you get:
48÷2(9+3) = 48÷2(12)
2(12) is EXACTLY THE SAME as 2x12. The brackets, at this point, are irrelevant. For people trying to subsitute x = 12 here, it doesn't work, as implied multiplication is a) ambiguous and b) works differently for variables.
No. You are completely missing the point of what everyone is saying. Even if you ignore the different rules for variables and constants, your maths is incorrect. Let's look at the first line:DaMullet said:Actually, I want to double check my work.
48/2(9+x)=2
48/(18+2x)=2
48=2(18+2x)
48=36+4x
48-36=4x
4x=12
x=3
Yup, still works.
/thread
48/2(9+x)=2
What you have done is distributed the 2 into the brackets. THIS IS INCORRECT. As this is multiplication, and not "part of the brackets", you have to do division and multiplication from left to right, as they have equal precedence. So rather than:
48/(18+2x)=2
you should have:
24(9+x)=2
216+24x = 2
24x = -214
x = -8.917
Which is not 3, obviously.
Despite your algebraic method, you are still falling for the trap that so many others are falling for, which is to assume that the 2 is part of the brackets, which is WRONG. Algebra does not make your answer more valid, especially when the core idea of the method, which happens to be what people have been trying to tell you is wrong, is completely overlooked.
48/2(9+x)=2
Yes, when you have multiplication and division you read it left to right. But brackets trumps all. Why? Because that is the whole point of brackets. So you do solve the brackets first. And when you have a pronumeral in the brackets (WHICH INCLUDES THE COEFFICIENT) what do you do? You expand.
48/x(9+3)=2
48/9x+3x=2
48/12x=2
48=24x
2=x
x/2(9+3) = 2
x/24 = 2
x = 48
See, everytime I solved the brackets first. And I got 2 as the final result to OPs question. Because brackets comes before division and multiplication, and so when you have brackets like that you cannot read left to right.
With fractions you do not read left to right, or top to bottom - you solve whatever comes first.
Also, in BIDMAS, or BEMDAS, or whatever you want to call it, the B does not mean "get rid of the brackets". It does not mean "expand the brackets". It means "solve everything inside the brackets". That's not an opinion, or ambiguous, that's just what it means.