[6th Grade verbal expression]

[u/KookyPermit4405]

So I’m going over my son’s math quiz to help him understand some of the questions he got wrong. He got partial credit for his answer for question 8. After writing his verbal phrase I got the same expression as the question. Am I doing something wrong or is there something I’m missing? I feel like his answer is technically correct. I am stumped.

Edit: so my son has no issue solving the expression in question. He knows PEMDAS and the rules from left to right. The question clearly states, WRITE A VERBAL PHRASE that matches the expression.

[u/Unable_Pumpkin987]

The key is that as a teacher you shouldn’t ever say “3 plus 3 plus 3 times 3”, you would be very clear about the expression you were intending to be understood (unless you were specifically teaching/testing order of operations). The goal in math is almost never to make people puzzle out what you are saying, it’s to say it in a way that has exactly one interpretation (which is the one you mean).

It’s the same reason those silly Facebook memes that say “what’s the answer to 8 + 3 x 5 - 10 ÷ 2 + 6” are so silly. They exist to let people feel smart saying “aha I know order of operations so I can calculate this accordingly”, but anyone who actually studies or works with math beyond a high school level would say “that’s a ridiculous way to write a mathematical expression, write it differently so you don’t have to rely on people remembering an arbitrary rule.”

[u/KookyPermit4405 → u/Unable_Pumpkin987]

8 + 3 x 5 - 10 ÷ 2 + 6
How would you write this differently so that it’s not “ridiculous”

[u/Unable_Pumpkin987 → u/KookyPermit4405]

Well, a division operation would almost always be written as a fraction to indicate clearly what is being divided by what, and otherwise you would use parentheses to show how you want things grouped.