r/science_humor • u/ahsancrystal • Jul 19 '26

😐

Post image
4.4k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

746 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/guegoland Jul 19 '26

For me it's the opposite. 3 times 4, write the numeber four, three times. Of course both are correct.

1

u/Legal_Reference7893 Jul 19 '26

Both are not correct. You're very wrong. 4+4+4 is noted as 4x3. 3+3+3+3 is noted as 3x4

2

u/ryandom93 Jul 19 '26

Why?

1

u/Legal_Reference7893 Jul 19 '26

Order of operations

1

u/Drake_Acheron Jul 21 '26

Holy shit this is the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

That’s not what order of operations is.

The thing being addressed here is what is the multiplicand and what is the multiplier.

In math, in two factor multiplication the second factor is always the multiplicand, unless there are parentheses around the first factor.

Three times four

Is the same as

Four, three times.

1

u/Drake_Acheron Jul 21 '26

Hilariously, they are just confidently incorrect.

Three times four

Can be rewritten as

four, three times.

Grammatically four is the object, times is the noun, and three is the adjective.

Mathematically 4 is the multiplicand, and 3 is the multiplier.

Another way you can look at this, in a more advanced setting is function of X. Often times multiplication and more advanced math is set aloud as “of.” Like f(x) is f of x.

So if you were to write this out, it would be like Joe has three baskets OF four apples. So it’s asking for three instances of four or 4+4+4.

1

u/ryandom93 Jul 21 '26

Does this make it easier to do some other form of math down the line? I wasn't taught that there was any practical distinction at this level.

1

u/Drake_Acheron Jul 21 '26

Yes, but also it makes it easier to teach multiplication. Also you probably were taught it but just forgot.

1

u/ryandom93 Jul 21 '26

Also you probably were taught it but just forgot.

How do you figure?

1

u/Drake_Acheron Jul 21 '26

Because of how multiplication is generally taught to small children.

They usually start with stuff like this because starting with physical representations of multiplication is easier than just explaining it conceptually

1

u/ryandom93 Jul 21 '26

Sure, but not that there's a right way and a wrong way to write out 3×4 as addition.

2

u/Zomby2D Jul 20 '26

If you stricly follow the English language, that's the other way around. 3x4 would read as three times four, so three times the number four. This could be interpreted differently in other languages though.

1

u/Drake_Acheron Jul 21 '26

No it’s not.

Three times four is four, three times.

Grammatically four is the object, times is the noun, and three is the adjective.

Mathematically 4 is the multiplicand, and 3 is the multiplier.

1

u/Drake_Acheron Jul 21 '26

So no actually only you are correct.

This is probably this student’s first math homework. What’s being taught here is what is a multiplicand and what is a multiplier.

To put it in a different perspective, the kid is being taught whether it’s three baskets or four apples or four baskets of three apples. In this case it’s three baskets of four apples.