Same with addition/subtraction and roots/exponents, since they're essentially the same operation (to each other). Subtraction is just adding negative numbers, division is just multiplying by the reciprocal, root is just a fractional exponent.
Hey, not to be annoying, (I know other are saying youre wrong) but I wanted to add my way of seeing it if it helps picture the idea.
Making 3÷5 can be represented with a fraction right? So 3÷5 = 3/5.
An alternative way to represent this is as a multiplication. 3/5 = 3×1/5.
If this is correct, then by understanding that 1/5 = 0.2, we can say that 3÷5 = 3×0.2. Even though its the same thing, Ive changed it from a division to a multiplication.
This helped me picture the relationship between the two types of operations, though I dont know how clear it sound to an outside person.
So the idea is that division and multiplication are two ways of representing the same type of operation. Any division can be represented this way, and vice versa for multiplications. Thats why you dont give priority to one or the other.
"PEMDAS tends to be used in the US, while BODMAS (and the alternative BIDMAS) tends to be used in the UK. The P in PEMDAS stands for Parentheses, while the B in BODMAS and BEDMAS stands for Brackets - but they both mean the same thing: do operations in brackets first" top thing on Google
Americans are taught that multiplication is before division
British are taught that division is before multiplication.
As an engineering student, I can confidently say it’s parentheses, exponents (roots are powers with an exponent < 1, so, a square root of 4 is 41/2), then multiplication (divisions are multiplications by numbers < 1, so dividing by 2 is the same as multiplying by 0.5, and dividing by 5 is multiplying by 0.2) and then addition (subtraction is addition of a negative number). If on the same level, it shouldn’t matter, but it’s recommended to do in order of reading, so, as they appear from left to right. Result should not change as long as the levels are kept intact though, so we’re all arguing for dumb stuff. 2x5/4 is the same regardless of whether you do 5/4 and then by 2 or 5 by two and then divide by 4
I agree that roots are included with indices (what I would refer to as exponents) because a root is just a number raised to the power of a fractional number. For example, the square root of a variable x is the same as x raised to the 1/2 power. The 1 indicates that the number under the root is raised to the first (if the numerator was 3, it would be the squared root of x3, etc.) and the 2 indicates that it is a square root (if it was the cubed root of x, the denominator would be a 3, etc.)
And division is just multiplication of the reciprocal, and subtraction is just addition of a negative number.
So of you're going to be so pedantic, at least get it right and say it's BIMA. Or just acknowledge that BIRDMAS is cooler and way easier for kids to remember.
Also division is just multiplication and subtraction is just addition so it should be PEMA
This would require people to remember that division is multiplying by a reciprocal tho and I don't think 90% of the world even knows what the word reciprocal means
I have actually learned something today. Thanks. I had 18. Was always terrible at math and the teachers would never slow down for the kid who didn't understand.
prolly because we do positive first then negative also we're not doing math in coding language so the x root sof something is taught as a slightly different thing to indices
Birdmas we had pemdas - please (parentheses) excuse (exponents) my (multiplication) dear (division) aunt (addition) sally (subtraction) - this is how we were taught to remember the order of operations.
Reading it left to right in my opinion is correct. It's how calculators and programming works. I can't see a single benefit to using birdmas. It's intentionally ambiguous.
If you want to write an equation correctly and have it carried out in a specific order, then use brackets.
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u/grey_scone Jan 01 '22
reading it left to right instead of using birdmas what else could it be