The Internet Is Completely Divided Over the Answer to This Simple Math Equation.

[Davaoeno 37,494]

If you told me there had been a poll and everyone on the internet had voted then I would say that  whatever the vote was the internet was completely divided.  If only one person on the internet did not vote then for me the internet was not completely divided - because after you counted the votes for both sides there was a remainder 

 

I believe the use of " completely divided" in the headline was just for dramatic effect . 

 

 

Edited August 10, 2019 by Davaoeno

[+Salty Dog 69,048]

7 minutes ago, Davaoeno said:

 

I believe the use of " completely divided" in the headline was just for dramatic effect . 

Ya Think… 

[+to_dave007 5,914]

3 minutes ago, Salty Dog said:

Ya Think… 

Ya think maybe we are just a tad bored today.

[Davaoeno 37,494]

1 hour ago, to_dave007 said:

Ya think maybe we are just a tad bored today.

Not anymore! 😋

[Soupeod 7,412]

12 hours ago, trthebees said:

For me, the answer is 1.

I've done reasonably high level maths and engineering calculations, and my instinct is that the 2 outside and immediately adjacent to the brackets belongs to and operates on the brackets as a single expression to be calculated first.

If I wanted the answer 16 which the author prefers, I would write (8 ÷ 2) x (2 + 2) for absolute clarity.

Just my thoughts, I'd hate the next rocket to Mars to depend on it!

 

 

That is what I did a few days ago as well.  I got 1 then worked it as a 16 too. Then read up on this equation which one author said is written wrong in the first place. 

5 hours ago, Salty Dog said:

If you punch it into your computer you will get 16.

I bet that depends on how you punch it into your computer. 

Edited August 10, 2019 by Soupeod

[Headshot 29,350]

Try punching it in as (2+2)2/8... Then what do you get?

[SkyMan 23,708]

9 minutes ago, Headshot said:

Try punching it in as (2+2)2/8... Then what do you get?

A different answer because that's a different equation. 

[+Salty Dog 69,048]

14 hours ago, Soupeod said:

I bet that depends on how you punch it into your computer. 

I entered It exactly as it's written. 

 

10 hours ago, Headshot said:

Try punching it in as (2+2)2/8... Then what do you get?

But that's not what is written… 

[Headshot 29,350]

2 hours ago, Salty Dog said:

But that's not what is written… 

OK. And this?

    8

_____________

2(2+2)

[SkyMan 23,708]

14 minutes ago, Headshot said:

OK. And this?

    8

_____________

2(2+2)

Again, changing the equation will change the answer.  Try  8 / 2 X 4

[Paddy 1,434]

The original expression 

8 / 2(2 + 2)

(sorry, my phone doesn’t have the proper “divide” symbol)

contains an assumption. It is assumed that 2(2 + 2) means that the content of the brackets is multiplied by 2. It should more correctly be written as 2 x (2 + 2) making the full expression

8 / 2 x (2 + 2)

If this is evaluated by the rules of BODMAS (which is what I learned back in the 50’s), division is performed BEFORE multiplication while the expression within the brackets is evaluated first. So...

8 / 2 x 4

4 x 4

16

Which, I might point out, is not what I got the first time. I read 2(2 + 2) as an expression to be evaluated in its entirety first. 

Which just goes to show why we need to see and recognize assumptions...

Edited August 11, 2019 by Paddy
Incorrect spelling

[Paddy 1,434]

Further...

The Original Post contains reference to a more recent rule - PEMDAS - and also refers to a similar rule BOMDAS - both of which reverse the order of Division and Multiplication (and I for sure don’t remember anything like BOMDAS!!)

The post includes reference to evaluating MD or AS in a left to right fashion (but suggests it is an ok shortcut).

If I take

8 / 2 x 4

And evaluate it strictly in accordance with PEMDAS I would get 1. Only if I use left to right evaluation would I get 16.

Are the various acronyms right or wrong and is left to right evaluation of MD or AS (considering those pairs to be equal in significance) a necessary part of the convention?

I have no idea!!

 

[savarity 609]

Does anyone have a problem with this:

8÷2×4

Which can be read as; eight divided by two times four. The answer being 16.

So then, what's the problem with the original:

8÷2(2+2)

After you do the addition in the parentheses you have the same thing.

To get 1 as the answer requires something like this:

8÷[2(2+2)]

or just do the first equation backwards:

8÷2×4
becomes
4×2÷8

However, you wouldn't read this sentence backwards, would you? So yes, left to right.

[+RogerDuMond 13,828]

The way I was taught to do algebraic equations, the answer is 16.

As a backup to my answer, I just asked my 9th grade niece to solve the problem and she said that the way they were taught PMEDAS, that the answer is 16.

[Woolf 8,550]

Good explanation why it is 16:

https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2019/07/31/what-is-8-÷-22-2-the-correct-answer-explained/