48÷2(9+3) = ?

48÷2(9+3) =

  • 2

    Votes: 40 56.3%

  • 288

    Votes: 23 32.4%

  • 2 or 288

    Votes: 1 1.4%

  • ambiguous/erroneous statement

    Votes: 7 9.9%
  • Total voters
    71
matt said:
It's a little tricky, because do you do 48/2 or 2*12 first. Multiply and Divide are at more or less the same place in order of operations as I remember them (school was very long ago), so either
48÷2(9+3)
=48÷2(12)
=48÷24
=2
OR
48÷2(9+3)
=24(12)
=288

I believe multiplication would get the upper hand though, so 288
Click to expand...

No - in cases like this you resolve the equation from left to right - division and multiplication do not supercede each other, ever.

And you do not "get rid" of brackets - 2(12) reads exactly the same as 2 * 12 - that is what it means. All you're doing is rewriting the statement - and if your rewriting changes the value of the statement, then you're doing it wrong.

The final equation, after you've solved the numbers in brackets, is:

48 / 2 * 12 - so proceeding from left-to-right (which is the established rule) - it is 48 / 2 = 24 * 12 = 288.
 
Google search doesn't prove anything unfortunately. Seriously take a bunch of calculators and plop it in there and see what you get. ;)
Calculators as well as google depend on the programmers understanding so if he was wrong then the answer would be wrong.

The above equation isn't even an equation but a simple statement. Basic order of operations will confirm that division is first in line so gets done before the implied multiplication of the brackets so answer is 288.
 
this is the rudest way to wake someone up in the morning, solving maths equations hahahahahahahah... :p

It certainly had me ready to go after 5 min this morning... I think this is the perfect wake up tool for us workaholics :D
 
I'm done saying what I need to say - I just had fond memories of marking a Std 5 maths paper (in which the students had to use a calculator) - which, having forgot my calculator I had to do out of my head (yes - I was also in Std 5 at the time) - and some guys managed 2/50.

Calculators won't rescue people with a lack of understanding of the basics.
 
simon said:
Sorry to ask this but is this for somebody's homework?
Yeah bodmas, can barely remember that it was years and years ago. Crikey I am getting old
Click to expand...
No. It's just a problem I know the answer to. But it's amusing watching people argue over something that should have a clear answer based on high school maths. On another forum a 3rd year calculus student couldn't even get it right and made up extra rules that he couldn't show exists. And we want to know why people fail at basic maths. :rolleyes:

BODMAS is actually BEDMAS but is actually oversimplified. Multiplication and division share precedence as does addition and subtraction so it is actually (B)(E)(D/M)(A/S).

Where people are getting confused is that in school they were taught to multiply into the brackets first.
So 48/2(9+3)
= 48/2(12)
= 48/24
= 2

WRONG, nobody was taught any such thing and if they were they were taught wrong. What you were taught is this:
48+2(9+3)
= 48+2(12)
= 48+24
= 72

Because multiplication has precedence over addition you multiply into the brackets first. But "into brackets" has no precedence other than the implied multiplication, so if there is both multiplication and division you do it in the order that you write in. For us that's left to right, for the Chinese it's right to left and the problem would also be written from right to left like this:
(3+9)2÷84

But in actual formulas you also won't see a division sign. It would be the 48 over the 2 and next to the 9+3 or 48 over the 2(9+3).
 
Last edited:
BoDMAS jou lekker ding. You don't have to eliminate the brackets, you just gotta calculate what's inside them first, after that it becomes 48 / 2 * 12, working from left to right it must be 288 "whistling:
 
From left to right is correct.

forty-eight divided by two multiplied by nine plus three.
48 / 2 * 3+9
 
Psyndrome said:
It's been changed to BOMDAS from (BODMAS) so answer is 2.
Click to expand...

It's nice to know they can just randomly change mathematical rules.

For the next performance, we're going to allow changes that will get the next set of astronauts to miss the Moon.

Just so you know ... switching the D and M around won't change anything - multiplication and division don't have precedence over each other. And even if you do switch them around ... it wouldn't change the final result.

Of 288.
 
shadowfox said:
It's nice to know they can just randomly change mathematical rules.

For the next performance, we're going to allow changes that will get the next set of astronauts to miss the Moon.

Just so you know ... switching the D and M around won't change anything - multiplication and division don't have precedence over each other. And even if you do switch them around ... it wouldn't change the final result.

Of 288.
Click to expand...

If you taking into account BOMDAS:
Brackets: (9+3) = 12 (Although addition comes later, it is still considered within brackets which is calculated first)
Orders: None (no exponents etc.)
Multiplication: 2(9+3) = 2(12) = 24
Division: 48 / 2(9+3) = 48 / 24 = 2

You are correct when using either division or multiplication first. Same result.
 
Ummm ... Psyndrome ... I'm having difficulty understanding you - either I'm really, really stupid, or you are just flat contradicting yourself.

Even the video you posted says the answer is 288.

As Prometheus said:

But in actual formulas you also won't see a division sign. It would be the 48 over the 2 and next to the 9+3 or 48 over the 2(9+3).
Click to expand...

And then there's:

Random Math Professor said:
I’m a math professor, and my view is that although the standard convention, if applied precisely and rigorously, does give an unambiguous procedure to follow, nobody, and that includes professional mathematicians, would ever write a formula like this. This is mostly because, after about 3rd grade, none of us ever use the division symbol ever again.
Click to expand...
 
Wolfram says 288, which means it's 288.

Can't argue with software that knows the average number of licks it takes to finish a lollipop.
 
RustPuppet said:
Wolfram says 288, which means it's 288.

Can't argue with software that knows the average number of licks it takes to finish a lollipop.
Click to expand...

Wolfram? Damnit, I wish I'd thought of that.

Well-played. Wolfram knows all! All knows the mighty Wolfram! Ph34r, dawg.
 
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