Originally Posted by Frank Ocean

Because its an ambiguous equation

48÷[2*(9+3)] = 2.

or 288 if you dont think of it as a single term

There's nothing ambiguous about it in my opinion. You always work left to right with the terms and follow the order based on the rules of BEDMAS.

Besides, Afzal said so. How can you question him....!

Originally Posted by Afzal

Facepalm :/

the answer is 288 cuz I said so.

Originally Posted by thedog123123

You didn't follow bedmas correctly. bedmas is absolute it can interpret any simple arithmetic order.



= 48÷2(9+3) Brackets
= 48÷2(12) (we'll go from left to right)
= 48/24 (brackets first)
= 2

**** the WHAT.

So yes, brackets first.
Which gives you
= 48÷2(12)
HOWEVER, this is basically
= 48÷2*12
The hell do you mean, brackets first? Those brackets are just left over from the previous step and thus just mean multiplication. DOES NOT MEAN YOU MULTIPLY FIRST BECAUSE THERE ARE BRACKETS AROUND ONE OF THE NUMBERS. Hence you work left to right. HENCE THE ANSWER IS 288.

I cannot believe this thread. I literally facepalmed. So hard. Asked my sister and her 13 year-old friends. They all got it, following basic rules. Wow guys, wow.

Someone ask what Chuck Norris thinks is the answer. That'll solve everything!

Someone should bring this up to whoever made the casio fx-991 the "standard calculator" at mac.

Originally Posted by Amaryll

**** the WHAT.

So yes, brackets first.
Which gives you
= 48÷2(12)
HOWEVER, this is basically
= 48÷2*12
The hell do you mean, brackets first? Those brackets are just left over from the previous step and thus just mean multiplication. DOES NOT MEAN YOU MULTIPLY FIRST BECAUSE THERE ARE BRACKETS AROUND ONE OF THE NUMBERS. Hence you work left to right. HENCE THE ANSWER IS 288.

I cannot believe this thread. I literally facepalmed. So hard. Asked my sister and her 13 year-old friends. They all got it, following basic rules. Wow guys, wow.

Did you just say "fuuck the what?"

I approve.

I've noticed, the fx-991 rule... It's not really published anywhere. Profs say the name, some of them are specific with a model, and call it the 991ms, but others simply call it the 991... I called the registrar once when I had my 991es taken in an exam, and the registrar said the only standard is "an fx-991" and any derivatvie there-of... Meaning my 991es was JUST fine and that the invigilator had no right to take it. SWEEEEET

Use bedmas and you get 288, use dumbas and you get 2.

Originally Posted by Amaryll

**** the WHAT.

So yes, brackets first.
Which gives you
= 48÷2(12)
HOWEVER, this is basically
= 48÷2*12
The hell do you mean, brackets first? Those brackets are just left over from the previous step and thus just mean multiplication. DOES NOT MEAN YOU MULTIPLY FIRST BECAUSE THERE ARE BRACKETS AROUND ONE OF THE NUMBERS. Hence you work left to right. HENCE THE ANSWER IS 288.

I cannot believe this thread. I literally facepalmed. So hard. Asked my sister and her 13 year-old friends. They all got it, following basic rules. Wow guys, wow.

Interestingly I tried 3 different calculators. Two gave 288 one gave 2.

I also learned that this equation has gone viral in the last few days. Apparently there are several people on both sides of the fence and no one truly knows who's right mainly because the question is written so poorly.

But the general agreement I get is the following quote:

"The general consensus among math people is that "multiplication by juxtaposition" (that is, multiplying by just putting things next to each other, rather than using the "×" sign) indicates that the juxtaposed values must be multiplied together before processing other operations."

288 is right if you follow bedmas. However the question screams that the author implied brackets. Most people like myself who do math like i speak english automatically infers the brackets because that is what the author most likely meant.

Originally Posted by Serene

Use bedmas and you get 288, use dumbas and you get 2.

this is epic

To those saying "It's 288 because division comes before multiplication because it's beDMas!", you are wrong.

Behold!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_o...ns#M nemonics

BEDMAS is just a mnemonic (a memory aid), and happens to be the one most often taught in Canada; it is not a law. Another equally valid mnemonic is PEMDAS: Parentheses Exponents Multiplication Division Addition Subtraction, which would make it seem that multiplication comes first.

To quote wiki, "These mnemonics may be misleading, especially if the user is not aware that multiplication and division are of equal precedence, as are addition and subtraction."

All that said, I'm gonna say that the answer is 288; it's true that the leaving out of the * seems to imply higher precedence for the multiplication, but both technically have the same precedence, and we read from left to right.

Originally Posted by MarkA

To those saying "It's 288 because division comes before multiplication because it's beDMas!", you are wrong.

Behold!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_o...ns#M nemonics

BEDMAS is just a mnemonic (a memory aid), and happens to be the one most often taught in Canada; it is not a law. Another equally valid mnemonic is PEMDAS: Parentheses Exponents Multiplication Division Addition Subtraction, which would make it seem that multiplication comes first.

To quote wiki, "These mnemonics may be misleading, especially if the user is not aware that multiplication and division are of equal precedence, as are addition and subtraction."

All that said, I'm gonna say that the answer is 288; it's true that the leaving out of the * seems to imply higher precedence for the multiplication, but both technically have the same precedence, and we read from left to right.

Yea, I was googling around and every time I was like, "WTF IS THE P!!!!!"

I can't even say it irl LOL

Note BEDMAS is a memory aid for children, and somewhat inaccurate. A/S and D/M are the same level, they are opposites of another. So, really, it should be written B...E...D/M...A/S

Whether you do one or the other first depends on reading LEFT to RIGHT. As far as I know this math is done the same even in countries where reading right to left is normal. In any case, this is Canada, and things are done left to right here...

Now, I only tutor math these days, but...
48÷2(9+3)
= 48 ÷ 2(12) = 48 ÷ 2 x 12
= 24(12)
=288

There's no difference between 2(12) or 2 x 12... one's just clearer when you use variables.

To get 2, you'd need two sets of brackets...

48÷[2(9+3)]
= 48 ÷ [2(12)] = 48 ÷ [2 x 12]
= 48÷ 24
=2

I'd wager this is too big of an oversight (two characters) to be what that author actually implied. Besides, it doesn't matter what you think the author wanted to say. It's what's there that you solve. This is (HARDCORE!!! srs bzns) math, not philosophy.


Is this a Roll Up Skill Question? I remember something similar when I won a McFlurry at McDonald's once...

A TI-83+ says 288. Beat that

tl;dr we've all wasted too much time on this already.

so maple says its 288
matlab says its an error
up to u

I get 1337... (Y) Clearly everyone is terrible at math

That's because you're so 1337. What? :(