Poll: What is the answer to 48/2(9+3)?
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Sooooo.... If I understand this mind-boggling problem correctly then we have a rather simple mathematical problem that features two aspects that are open to interpretation.
1. Do multiplication and dividing have the same priority, and should one simply read the problem from left to right at that point?
2. Is 48/2 an indication of 48 being divided by 2, or is it a fraction?
The first question has a straight and simple answer, the second question is slightly subjective, but I seem to vaguely remember that one always should simplify their fractions, and that'd end up as 12 anyway.
And now I have a question of my own, for which I don't exactly see the answer as easily.
Why are there Fifteen pages of discussion on this?
1. Do multiplication and dividing have the same priority, and should one simply read the problem from left to right at that point?
2. Is 48/2 an indication of 48 being divided by 2, or is it a fraction?
The first question has a straight and simple answer, the second question is slightly subjective, but I seem to vaguely remember that one always should simplify their fractions, and that'd end up as 12 anyway.
And now I have a question of my own, for which I don't exactly see the answer as easily.
Why are there Fifteen pages of discussion on this?
Additional parentheses are needed to place 2(9+3) into the denominator as written (horizontal formats are ambiguous). Every algebra book will tell you that. Every math instructor will tell you that.mps4li3n said:
Math is not interpretative.
You guys must not have taken a math class above pre-algebra. I'll break the problem down for you. 48 divided by 2 multiplied by the sum of 9 plus 3. First, you have to add 9 and 3, as implied by the parentheses. Now, you have 48 divided by 2 multiplied by 12. This is where you all get flustered. You all seem to have forgotten that you generally don't trust your calculator when it comes to questions like these. The one thing I learned from calc is that you do math by hand if you're ever confused. The problem, at this point, looks like this -
48
---
2(12)
Which is not a fraction in its simplest form, you still have another step to do before you reduce (that is, multiplying 2 and 12). It is NOT
48
--- * 12
2
If the second problem were the case, the original problem would have read (48/2)(9+3). There's no two bits about it. You need to take a refresher course in algebra if you think the answer is anything but 2. Technology fails this question, because it is poorly phrased. It can't understand what you're trying to say without including additional parentheses - every math teacher/good math student will know this, and will take advantage of this. You guys just missed out on a few points on the test.
48
---
2(12)
Which is not a fraction in its simplest form, you still have another step to do before you reduce (that is, multiplying 2 and 12). It is NOT
48
--- * 12
2
If the second problem were the case, the original problem would have read (48/2)(9+3). There's no two bits about it. You need to take a refresher course in algebra if you think the answer is anything but 2. Technology fails this question, because it is poorly phrased. It can't understand what you're trying to say without including additional parentheses - every math teacher/good math student will know this, and will take advantage of this. You guys just missed out on a few points on the test.
That is how it is always written. Whenever you see a division symbol, it means that it is a fraction. This should have been one of the first things you learned in algebra (if not algebra 2).Beryl77 said:
I'm assuming that's 48/(2(9+3)) [=2] and not (48/2)(9+3) [=288], since otherwise it's a REALLY stupid way of writing it, rather than just a stupid way.
288 if I'm not mistaken, however I'd define the problem better if I wanted a more certain answer across the board.
PEMDAS does not matter if you can't understand what the problem is asking you. Write it out on paper guys. Seriously. The question asksteethofymir said:
48
----
2(9+3)
It does NOT ask
48
--- * (9+3)
2
You have to reduce the denominator before you can divide. I can not stress this enough, when there is a division symbol, it means that it is a fraction.
Good job at getting the answer right, but really, people need to stop mentioning PEMDAS, because, like I said, it doesn't matter if you don't know what you're doing.
Again, while in school in Eastern Europe i have never seen any formula ever be written like that and only know of it because of computers...Atmos Duality said:
Do try to understand, writing it one after another on the same exact line while using "/" is the problem, it's not such a wide spread way to do it, or at least it wasn't 8-10 years ago (i don't count college because the math teachers we had in 1st year where so old they wouldn't have used newer representations then anything pre-1960).
The proper way to write it would be using supra and subscript, but nowadays writing it 23/45 is also wide spread, but not as much as you seem to think (not everyone has heard of wikipedia you know): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidus_%28punctuation%29#Mathematics
Like the metric system not everyone has the exact same symbols for the same math rule... and you're acting like they do or as if the symbols themselves matter (it's still the same math in arabic or kanji).
That's exactly right. You have to dumb the equation down to allow a computer to get the question right. There are IMPLIED parentheses around 2(9+3), because it is IMPLIED that it is in the denominator thanks to the division symbol. Computers don't know to include the IMPLIED parentheses, so they give you the WRONG answer. That's why you DON'T trust calculators with math, unless you know how to do it yourself.mps4li3n said:
It's not that they have different interpretations of the division symbol, they simply do not know what it means.mps4li3n said:
Also, yes, I logged into this site purely because of this thread. It amazed me that so many of you don't know how to perform basic equations.
It's really hard to tell with the way you wrote that horizontally. I can't tell if it's supposed to be
48(9+3)
____
2
or
48
_____
2(9+3)
48(9+3)
____
2
or
48
_____
2(9+3)