Poll: What is the answer to 48/2(9+3)?

[RonHiler]

The answer is 2. When following PEMDAS/BODMAS you need to solve brackets first. This doesn't mean reduce the contents within the brackets to a single number, but removing the brackets completely.

Thus, not only do you need to solve 9+3 to get 12 first, you also need to solve 2(12) because this is still part of solving brackets. This gives you 24.

The fact that this method also backs up the implied format that this is a fraction, where both parts automatically imply brackets, means it is the correct solution. The question is best viewed as (48)/(2(9+3)).

To reach the answer as 288, the question would have to be written as (48/2)(9+3), which is such a deviation from the norm, that it would have to specifically written as such.

Oh, and for the record, 48/2x 24x. The correct answer is 24/x. 48x/2 = 24x. Thus, using substitution, we still arrive at the answer 2 for this equation, given that x=9+3 or 12.

A nice argument. Sadly, completely wrong. The correct answer, as the question is written, is 288. If you think it is anything else, you need to break open a 5th grade math book.

The very fact that there is any controversy about this at all is very sad. OTOH, it means my job is secure from the upcoming generation. Clearly they don't have the math skills to do what I do

Also, if you don't want to take my word for it, just type this into Excel: =48/2*(9+3)

It's clearly 2. How can so many people get this wrong?

Oh, the irony.

 

[AWDMANOUT]

Calculator says it's 288.

Calculator is undisputed overlord of all things mathematic.

Answer is 288.

 

[funguy2121]

ribeye.

 

[GladeAnator]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=48%2F2(9%2B3)

 

[DaMullet]

To those people who say the answer is 2,
If 48/2(9+3)=2,
then 48/2/(9+3)=?

Heh. Yep, that just about proves it.

The exponent is 48/2 and the bracket is (9+3)

Simplified the question would be 24(12)

and the answer is 288.

Using the same method with 48/2/(9+3) is

48/2/12 = 2


48/2*(9+3) != 48/2/(9+3)

 

[Rough Sausage]

48
______ = 2 = 48/(2(9+3))
2(9+3)



48
__ * (9+3) = 288 = 48/2(9+3)
2

It's all about how you write it. Hopefully, from the above, you can see the answer to the question posed is 288, otherwise the brackets in the first equation are meaningless.

It's 288. You would only consider 2(9+3) to be entirely in the denominator if it was written that way, which it isn't in text form. If you wrote it by hand it would be much less ambiguous.

As written, it reads like this, leading to an answer of 288:

48
---- x (9+3)
2


As opposed to:

48
----------
2(9+3)

Which obviously equals 2.

There is NOTHING in the question, as written, to suggest that the second form is true. Therefore the convention is to read it the first way.




Also,

The answer is 2. When following PEMDAS/BODMAS you need to solve brackets first. This doesn't mean reduce the contents within the brackets to a single number, but removing the brackets completely.

This is completely wrong. You simplify what's inside of the brackets first, then you treat the simplified result as a regular term which has the operation outside of it applied according to the correct order of operations in regards to the whole question.

And regardless, in this question there is no 2(9+3). 48/2(9+3) is the SAME as (48/2)(9+3). It is NOT the same as 48/(2(9+3)). The reason we don't use the second set of brackets when we handwrite 48/(2(9+3)), is because the length of the fraction bar (correctly called a vinculum) implies which numbers are grouped together. When using a forward slash, this is no longer the case so we assume that it is to be read as (48/2)(9+3), which can also be written as 48(9+3))/2.

I'm not an expert, but I am doing 3 units of math and am halfway through my HSC course... and this is all pretty basic stuff.

Damn, beat me to it, I probably should have at least read the last page before posting what I posted

 

[TheBoulder]

Why are there more 4-chan threads popping up now?
Also PEMDAS people, remember it.

 

[Oversized Peg]

We were always taught if you were going to write / the numerator should be slightly superscript and the denominator slightly subscript to avoid this misunderstanding. Personally I think it's 2 because to get 288 the question would have to be (48/2)(3+9).

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Also, can everyone stop calling the brackets parenthesis? Parenthesis is a grammatical term. It has nothing to do with mathematics. Parentheses can be dashes, commas or brackets. These are just brackets.

Language difference. Webster's (American English) call brackets parenthesis.

The main difference here isn't BODMAS, but text.

If / means "divide", then we're working out (48/2)(9+3)
If / means "divides by", then we're working out 48/(2(9+3))

BODMAS clearly points to the first, but it depends how you determine what "/" means in text.

 

[Skratt]

Nevermind, it is 288. *rethinks PEMDAS*

 

[kurupt87]

PEMDAS

(48/2)(9+3)=288
48/2(9+3)=2

Better?

BIDMAS

48/2(9+3)=288
48/[2(9+3)]=2

Better?

As many have already said, it's a poorly written problem.

The fact that "/" is used does not necessarily imply a fraction. "/" is the default sign for the operation called division and also to seperate a numerator from a denominator in computer language, this is where the problem lies.

 

[mps4li3n]

No, it most certainly is a math issue. People have been taught the order of operations wrong if they got 2. There's no room for interpretation here any more than there is room for interpretation as to what 4-3+2 equals (spoiler: it's not -1).

There is room if the symbol "-" wasn't used universally the same way...

The problem is that the "/" symbol being used isn't even the right symbol for it because your keyboard doesn't have the proper mathematical one but it's the "slash", which is used in grammar, while the one that should be used for math is the solidus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidus_%28punctuation%29#Mathematics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_%28punctuation%29#Arithmetic

Look what happens if i copy paste it: 123⁄456 See, even without the more hand writing like formatting it's still different from 123/456...

Because the sign hasn't been used that long there are still places where there's no imediate implication that the "/" sign is only for the numbers right next to it, as in hand written text the way it's placed is obvious and thus doesn't need to use x/(y+z).

Of course that doesn't mean some people here aren't screwing up the order of operations, the point is that the original way the operation is presented can easily be confusing... and that's why i for one won't vote in the poll without more clarification...

 

[mps4li3n]

The fact that "/" is used does not necessarily imply a fraction. "/" is the default sign for the operation called division and also to seperate a numerator from a denominator in computer language, this is where the problem lies.

As you can see in my links above the "/" is not even the proper original sign actually... and this problem would have never actually happened if not for computers.

 

[bob1052]

It's nothing more than simple PEMDAS

48/2*(9+3)

You do what's in the parentheses first

48/2*12

No.

You multiply into the paranthesis, as such:
2*(9+3) = (2*9)+(2*3) = 18+6 = 24

Then you do whatever multiplication or division comes first. In this case it was 48/2

24*12

Dude, wat? You'd do that if the question was (42/2)*(9+3). You can't divide by a single number in the denominator and leave out the rest. Everything "above" the division and everything "below" the division.


I hope this is not an indication of American math. Honestly, I suck at math, and this just seems like elementary school stuff to me. Whatever PEMDAS is, this is a clear and easy matter of calculating it using your brain, not a standard formula.

48/2(9+3) = 48/(2*9)+(2*3) = 48/18+6 = 48/24 = 2

Anything else is incorrect.

Wrong. When you write two separate numbers next to each other it is implied multiplication.

2 (9 + 3) is 2 * (9 + 3)

The 2 WHICH IS OUTSIDE OF THE BRACKET is NOT INSIDE THE BRACKET.

Once you expand the bracket you get 48 / 2 * 12
Multiplication and division have the exact same priority, and in the case that you have to do both you work from left to right.

That means you go

48/2*12
=24*12
=288

Anything else is incorrect.

I hope this is not an indication of UK math. Honestly, I suck at math, and this just seems like elementary school stuff to me.

 

[sheogoraththemad]

when did the escapist turn into /B/?!

 

[Jodah]

Given the typed version its 288 as many people have said and shown. However, if it were written as a fraction with a horizontal line rather than a slash it would be clearer and could, potentially, come out to 2.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

288 using BODMAS (brackets, order, division, multiplication, addition, subtraction).
48/2*(9+3)
=48/2*(12)
=24*12
=288.
never heard of PEMDAS (scottish education system FTL)

heretic! we learned BOMDAS at my school

anyway, you get 288 if you do it as above
really the question should be like (48/2)*(9+3) to avoid confusion
otherwise you might end up thinking its 48/(2*(9+3)) = 2

 

[snowfi6916]

It's 288. I put it into my ti 83 calculator exactly as written. 48/(2(9+3)) gives you 2, but since the 2 is not part of the denominator you perform the 48/2 first then do 9+3 then 24*12 = 288.

 

[Shoqiyqa]

2... still remember from grade school, Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally; Parentheses, Exponent, Multiply, Divide, Addition, Subtract. So... 9+3=12, 12*2=24, 48/24=2.

The one they taught us was BODMAS: Brackets, Of, Divide, Multiply, Add, Subtract. That gives:

48/2(9+3)

48/2(12)

24(12)

288

The correct answer is to find the person who sent you the information in an ambiguous format and use his neck as a handle to hammer some sense into his wall with his head.

 

[Enrathi]

I was taught that division signs, '/', count as being a grouping symbol. Ergo, using that logic you would wind up with 48 over top of 2*(9+3), which would be better clarified as 48/(2*(9+3)).

It all depends on the order that you think it should be done in. Without clarification, it all depends on how YOUR math teacher taught you.

While I agree with you, it technically comes down to whether your math teacher taught you properly or not. Math is not subjective in the least.

Sure it is. I'm a programmer and by reading the formula as written I get 288. The way the computer sees it is 48/2*(9+3), so that's the way I interpret it. If I was looking for an answer of 2, I'd have written the formula as 48/(2(9+3)). Since the computer interprets formulas in a very specific manner, I have to write (and therefore read) all my formulas in a very specific manner. As written, the answer to me is 288.

I'll admit it's been a while since I was last in a math class, but last time I read a text, it used either ÷ or had clearly defined fractional equations. As written the question is ambiguous and yes, in this case math is subjective. The rules of math are not, but the writing and interpretation of the formula are.