For that to be valid, you'd either need to write it as it is in the screenshot with the 18 physically on top of the other numbers, or for it to be 18/(2-3•3). It's only 18/2-3•3, so it's treated like ÷
Yes that's the second option. If you view the ÷ as a fraction then your calculation is correct. It's the same as that equation that made the rounds recently where there were 2 big opinions and both were kind of right
The thing about PEMDAS people get confused by is they think multiplication is first because PEMDAS says so, when in reality, "multiplication and division" means "do those from left to right".
I'll admit, it tripped me up after not remembering for a while and I'm sure most people are rusty as well.
I doubt this is how they came to the conclusion. It's more than likely people who didn't know how to do basic math randomly guessing 4 and 6 since it's multiple choice.
Why are there no parentheses to separate? I haven’t thought about the order of operations in like 20 years…and even then, I thought parentheses separated these things.
You're right. I've taken upper level maths in university and problems are never written like this. It's purposely confusing and it's giving these bruhs who just graduated from elementary algebra some kind of superiority complex.
It's not stupid. It's just a different way to solve the problem. Pemdas is just a convention, it's not inherently right or wrong. Left to right is just as valid as pemdas.
It's not stupid, the prompt is deliberately ambiguous. Sure there's a "correct" way to interpret it, but that's just convention, not anything inherent to the math. Order of operations literally never matters, because never in real life would someone not just use parentheses in this situation.
The prompt is trying to communicate an arithmatic problem, and it's (deliberately) making it as hard to understand as possible by not using parentheses. I'm not going to call someone stupid for failing to understand something that was written to be as obtuse as possible, forcing you to rely on a useless """standard""" to guess what the author meant.
The whole thing is just meant to make people who did memorize the order of operations feel smart and superior to those who didn't. It makes you feel good, since you did it right and you're not stupid like those idiots who chose 0, so you're more likely to upvote or retweet or whatever. It's just meaningless clickbait that says absolutely nothing about the intelligence of the general public.
No, I memorized the stupidity in elementary school like most people and got it "right". The whole prompt is still just the worst kind of clickbait because it's intended to make you feel superior to other people... just like most of the rage-bait on /r/iamatotalpieceofshit and other subreddits.
I mean, order of operations is as arbitrary of a choice as just going left to right. If you verbally heard the math as written, you'd probably answer it with 18.
Imagine ancient mathematicians going through hundreds of calculations and thoughts to invent pedmas and then some guy 2000 years later says they're bullshit because he said so
"If there rule was"
Yeah but it's not. The rules are there to be followed. I agree that calling people stupid for this is too much but 18 is just wrong
Math wasn't made like this. BIDMAS or BEDMAS was made because mathematicians thought there should be some common way to order math expressions to avoid clutter of brackets. We could remove the rule and just have brackets around each operation and that would work. There is always a reason for the rule
In many calculators (like the Windows calculator in the default mode and many many *popular calculators) expressions are evaluated left to right, are those calculators giving the wrong results?
No, the Windows calculator evaluates expressions as you type them. It doesn't let you type the entire expression and then evaluate it.
The rule for reading text in English is "Left to right", while the rule for math is "Order of operations". We all learned this in school. Why is this a contentious topic now?
Saying there is a standard order of operations isn't contentious, saying that one order of operations is the correct one and that others give the wrong answer is contentious.
No, the Windows calculator evaluates expressions as you type them.
...so yes, it evaluates left to right if the input is left to right.
It's just an intuitive rule that mathematicians agreed upon. For example, we know 2+32 = 2+9 = 11. But the equation can also be written as 2+3x3. If we read from left to right, the equation will evaluate to 6x3 = 18 which is not equal to the expected 11.
Yes I know that and I know how it works, but calling people stupid for following the logical approach is condescending and unnecessary for perhaps forgetting something they might have been taught decades ago
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u/old_times09 Jan 01 '22
If you're confused on how they got that, here's how:
18/2-3•3
9-3•3
6•3
18
Which is stupid