48÷2(9+3) = ???? (power, problem, best, Opera)

[NJBest]

Originally Posted by Alacran

48÷2(9+3)
48÷2(12)
48÷24
2

What's so hard about that?

Wow. You just lost all credibility on this board.

There's nothing hard about doing it incorrectly. It's just wrong.

[infiri]

Originally Posted by Charles

Are you sure?

I am 100% is 288,
this is because the equation 48/2(9+3) is not the same as 48/(2(9+3)),
So when you write 48/2(9+3) you are actually writing, 48/2 * (9+3)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by infiri

I am 100% is 288,
this is because the equation 48/2(9+3) is not the same as 48/(2(9+3)),
So when you write 48/2(9+3) you are actually writing, 48/2 * (9+3)

You are correct.

[infiri]

48 * (9+3), this would be the same equation,
2


Not the same as

48
2(9+3)

2 different things...

[Charles]

It is interesting how may people immediately think the answer is 2. How many times has this burned people?

[NJBest]

Originally Posted by Charles

It is interesting how may people immediately think the answer is 2. How many times has this burned people?

No wonder our unemployment is so high. So many people lack even the simplest levels of education.

[Csiko]

Order of operations: PEMDAS

Multiplication comes before division, therefore 2 and 12 are multiplied before you would divide from 48.
This is 4th grade stuff, people.


edit: Nevermind, apparently there are people in this country that actually read M/D and then A/S from left to right. so I guess it depends on how you were taught and how your teacher interpretted it.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Csiko

Order of operations: PEMDAS

Multiplication comes before division, therefore 2 and 12 are multiplied before you would divide from 48.
This is 4th grade stuff, people.


edit: Nevermind, apparently there are people in this country that actually read M/D and then A/S from left to right. so I guess it depends on how you were taught and how your teacher interpretted it.

And a 4th grader (and Excel and Matlab and Google) would tell you (correctly) the answer is 288 and not 2.

What people learn is irrelevant. The only thing that counts is the correct process which in this case delivers 288.

[JordanJP]

I seem to remember some stupid way to remember the order of operations- please excuse my dear aunt sally

parentheses
exponents
multiplication
division
addition
subtraction

so in that order, 48 divided by 2(9+3). 9+3=12, 12x2= 24. 48 div. by 24= 2

edit: at least that's what I was taught, by a pretty capable Algebra 1 teacher.

Some of the attitudes of people in this thread towards those who got the answer "2" instead of "288" could use to come down a bit, though.

[tickyul]

Originally Posted by jtur88

OK, then, express this algebraically:

You want to add 9+3, and multiply that by 2, and then divide 48 by that product. You will get 2. How do you express what you just did?

48÷2(9+3) is the only way.

You get 288 is by dividing 48 by 2, and then multiplying that by the sum of 9 and 3. How do you express that?

(48÷2)(9+3) = 288. Not the same.

The correct answer is 2. Now I remember why I loved algebra. It taught me to think, which turned out in later life to be very useful.

Sorry, you are wrong. There is something called Order Of Operations which applies to algebra and most other math......the answer is 24*12=288