48/2(9+3)=?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I know this is not a conventional topic on an engineering forum, but since engineers have an affinty for math, I thought this would fit in this forum.</p>

<p>This math topic has gone viral on the internet.</p>

<p>Is the solution 2 or 288?</p>

2

<p>To this day I still use the acronym PEMDAS, and using that order of operations the answer is 2. I’m sure there’s a more formal way of doing it though.</p>

3

<p>And actually, since the denominator has to be simplified first the answer is 2.</p>

4

<p>But (9+3) is not included in the denominator.</p>

5

<p>(9+3) isnt in the denominator, otherwise there would be another set of brackets.</p>

6

<p>Plugged into my TI-83, it says it’s 288.</p>

<p>1) Parenthesis are done first (9+3) = 12</p>

<p>2) Then the rest is all basically multiplication in a line 48<em>(1/2)</em>12; 48 divided by 2 is the same as 48 multiplied by 1/2. Division is just multiplication with inverses (probably explained poorly, but you know what I mean.)</p>

7

<p>This would equal 2: 48/(2(9+3))</p>

<p>Google it, and it will do the math for you, haha.</p>

<p>288</p>

8

<p>Best is to add parenthesis to eliminate any ambiguity.
It would help to write 48÷2(9+3) which is 48÷2<em>(9+3) as 48÷(2</em>(9+3)) or (48÷2)*(9+3)</p>

9

<p>I was curious if this would find it’s way here. It’s written specifically to confuse, but as it is written, the answer is 288.</p>

10

<p>It is amazing how many people will write something like this but actually mean the problem whose answer is 2. And here I thought the order of operations was something that we all were taught in like 5th grade.</p>

11

<p>OMG - you are all in the same class. This is the THIRD active thread on this topic, started by three people. Here’s a link to the first one:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-confidential-cafe/1124706-what-48-2-9-3-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-confidential-cafe/1124706-what-48-2-9-3-a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>And the second one</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/1127482-48-2-9-3-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/1127482-48-2-9-3-a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

13

<p>Kinda funny to see college students struggle with order of operations.
I hope you get that clear up before you design any bridges or buildings.</p>

14

<p>There are 2 different ways of looking at this. There isn’t only one right answer…</p>

<p>Edit: Even though I do agree that 288 is the right answer using the most conventional method.</p>

15

<p>

</p>

<p>False. There are two different ways of looking at this but only one of them is correct. Type the expression into Google, Matlab, Mathematica, a calculator or any other program and see if you get two different answers from different methods. You won’t.</p>

16

<p>All I can say is wow.</p>

17

<p>I know, how can you have gone thorough so many math classes and not realize this. </p>

<p>This is the reason you need to be so careful with parenthesis when writing mathematic expressions online. This does not necessarily mean 48/2*(9+3), even though it is the most conventional way of looking at it.</p>

<p>And boneh3ad, many calculators will actually give you 2 as the answer.</p>

18

<p>I’ll go with what matlab says:</p>

<p><a href=“http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/581/matlab.png[/url]”>http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/581/matlab.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

19

<p>Python and C++ is wrong then?</p>

20

<p>The answer is 288, I didn’t even think that sort of thing was disputable. I’ve seen this problem all over the internet and I don’t understand the big fuss over it. Order of operations is sixth grade stuff.</p>