Poll: Solve a simple math problem
- Thread starter Flailing Escapist
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Hey kids, here's a good way to remember how to solve ridiculous equations right. It's called PEMDAS.
P - parentheses
E - exponents
M - multiplication
D - division
A - addition
S - Subtraction
Do them in order. So...nothing in parenthesis, no exponents, 1X0 = 1 x X x 0 = 0, then all the ones added and subtracted equals 14.
Sheesh, I'm drunk and even then this was so simple it's insulting.
P - parentheses
E - exponents
M - multiplication
D - division
A - addition
S - Subtraction
Do them in order. So...nothing in parenthesis, no exponents, 1X0 = 1 x X x 0 = 0, then all the ones added and subtracted equals 14.
Sheesh, I'm drunk and even then this was so simple it's insulting.
I'll let quite a bit slide when it comes to remembering math and such that you no longer use, but this is too much. Don't know calculus? Fine, not everyone is in the sciences so not everyone needs this. Forgot algebra? Little more iffy, but I'll accept that it doesn't come up too much for everyone. But arithmetic? Really? Not knowing arithmetic is like not knowing which side won WW2.
It's not divided by Zero it's multiplied and I want another go I didn't see the minus sign in the middle
The example applies to my house hold. For us, it's just long term memory. I'd never heard it called the pemdas til this thread actually.Flailing Escapist said:
As to the second part, I was not trying to imply that you were that malicious; it is just the logical step. You know the answer to the question, therefore you are not posting to find it. So my two hypotheses were: you were being redundant or you were curious about how many others shared your friends lack of math skills. The second seemed more plausible.
Putting in a minus hoping that the viewer doesn't see it. That's low. That's not a simple maths problem. That's a simple optical illusion (people see what the want or expect to see, people get caught in patterns etc). Real people write numerals or use a tally, they don't write 1+1+1. Or if you want to get all mathematical they use sigma notation.
Also, no-one I know of uses PEDMAS etc, at a college level. Division and Multiplication are the same process, as are indices, Addition and Subtraction are also similar process, and if you know the Law of Distribution, then you get to ignore Parentheses. The amount of people using our old Pneumonic: BODMAS, who got it wrong (Brackets of Division Multiplication Addition & Subtraction) and ended up with something ridiculous is amazing. No use of Order of Operations that is correct will come up with the wrong answer (One that isn't 14) unless you fundamentally fail to understand the system. Which is why my maths teachers past year 8 always avoided using them, hoping that people understood the system by then.
It's as bad as another one I've seen, where the trickster (sorry, "questioner") "asks" the viewer to identify a simple sum such as 5+5. Little known to them is that written in fine print they are unable to see at a distance, is an extra figure which throws the calculation off. It isn't a maths problem, it's just silliness, and it doesn't make you look clever.
For those who don't know, the lim(x->0) 1/x=infinity, 1/0 may be evaluated as infinity but is not equal to infinity (For those who know, there are multiple magnitudes of infinite sets, ie, different infinite sizes, but they're all infinite, eg, Z(Integers)<R(Reals) in fact, Z<S S={0=<R=<1}. Infinity is a concept not a value. Remember this, and one day you may be thankful. It's an abstract noun, better suited to use as an adjective, infinite.
The term undefined simply means there is no real solution, or even a complex one, however, by using limits, usually a solution may be found.
Also, no-one I know of uses PEDMAS etc, at a college level. Division and Multiplication are the same process, as are indices, Addition and Subtraction are also similar process, and if you know the Law of Distribution, then you get to ignore Parentheses. The amount of people using our old Pneumonic: BODMAS, who got it wrong (Brackets of Division Multiplication Addition & Subtraction) and ended up with something ridiculous is amazing. No use of Order of Operations that is correct will come up with the wrong answer (One that isn't 14) unless you fundamentally fail to understand the system. Which is why my maths teachers past year 8 always avoided using them, hoping that people understood the system by then.
It's as bad as another one I've seen, where the trickster (sorry, "questioner") "asks" the viewer to identify a simple sum such as 5+5. Little known to them is that written in fine print they are unable to see at a distance, is an extra figure which throws the calculation off. It isn't a maths problem, it's just silliness, and it doesn't make you look clever.
For those who don't know, the lim(x->0) 1/x=infinity, 1/0 may be evaluated as infinity but is not equal to infinity (For those who know, there are multiple magnitudes of infinite sets, ie, different infinite sizes, but they're all infinite, eg, Z(Integers)<R(Reals) in fact, Z<S S={0=<R=<1}. Infinity is a concept not a value. Remember this, and one day you may be thankful. It's an abstract noun, better suited to use as an adjective, infinite.
The term undefined simply means there is no real solution, or even a complex one, however, by using limits, usually a solution may be found.
I came up with 4 myself. And yet the answer is 14. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I followed the PEMDAS rule and multiplyed 1 x 0, then I added all the ones up to the minus sign, which is ten, and then I added the ones after that, which is 6.
10-6=4.
I don't understand.
And on that note:
10-6=4.
I don't understand.
And on that note:
Only one of them is negative, all the ones after the negative are not negative.scorptatious said:
1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1+1*0
1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1+(0)
2+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1
3+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1
etc.
10-1+1+1+1+1+1
9+1+1+1+1+1
10+1+1+1+1
etc.
14
What you are thinking would only happen if it was like this.
1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-(1+1+1+1+1+1)+1*0
in which case the negative 1 in front of the brackets would distribute through.
What anyone who put 0 is thinking of is
(1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1+1)*0
in which case the addition would all take precedence over the multiplication due to being inside the brackets and therefore the multiply by zero would be the final step taken.
I always hate it when this math problem makes the rounds in the forum. It makes me feel so stupid. So yeah, I voted for "fucked if I know" 'cos math and I are not pals.
Now I'm going to go mope in a corner like a toddler.
Now I'm going to go mope in a corner like a toddler.
Hear hear!Naeo said:
* solves differential equation in head, thinks 16-9 is 5 for half an hour*
Nope, that's all right - except only one 1 is multiplied by 0. Everything else is added and subtracted around it.Togs said:
I am amazed that there's this much confusion about such a simple operation - how do people work out their bus fares or check their change in shops?!
"Ok, I had £10, then I spent £1.70 on the bus fare, then £5.60 on a cinema ticket, then I bought a coffee... that leaves me with... lemme see, carry the one, divide by zeroooOOOOHHH SHIIIIII" *world implodes*
