Poll: 6÷2(1+2)

6/2(1+2) = ?

  • 9

    Votes: 516 68.9%
  • 1

    Votes: 233 31.1%

  • Total voters
    749
snowdog is correct. You can't interpret it any other way.

The question is 6/2(1+2) which is (6/2)*(1+2). Apply bidmas. Ans = 9.

The question is NOT 6/(2(1+2)), in which case it would be 1.
 
I would mention autism in a spate of pedantry, but I'll refrain.

I do agree on the principle though, there's been a lot of ironic arrogance within this thread.

There may be some correlation between the two, but you can't assume it.


snowdog is correct. You can't interpret it any other way.

The question is 6/2(1+2) which is (6/2)*(1+2). Apply bidmas. Ans = 9.

The question is NOT 6/(2(1+2)), in which case it would be 1.

bi(dm)(as)
 
There may be some correlation between the two, but you can't assume it.
I was joking in my own odd sort of way, as if asimwhatever was imagining those voting '1' as number-crunching Rainmen or something... which of course is giving him far too much credit.

And it seems Gangster still isn't getting 'it'... and by 'it' I mean actually mentally processing what various others have written almost countless times prior to his 'summary'.
 
bi(dm)(as)

Yes... you enter the brackets first and perform the operation within them. :rolleyes:

guyfawkes I get it - and if you see my post you will see that I stated the two possible ways of looking at it. The question is not the 2nd 'state' I mention, thus the answer is 9.

People may have looked at it and thought that... but its wrong and the correct is 9.

I get it all right.
 
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Why, it says
6/2(1+2)
not
6/(2(1+2))

6/2(1+2) Automatically means (6/2)*(1+2).


In most calculators anyhow. And I've been learned to follow that.

Just type it in your casio or texas instruments graphical calc or in google and it will always say 9.

Without any symbols, it's utterly ambiguous. The bracketing is inconsistent and there's no multiplication sign. It's badly written specifically to generate arguments like this one.

Your version requires you to assume that the 6/2 is bracketed before you multiply out the (1+2), but that's no more valid than assuming that the 2(1+2) is bracketed, given the inconsistent manner in which the thing is written under your rules.

If they wanted it to mean (6/2)*(2+1) then the first part should be bracketed, given that they've gone to the trouble of bracketing the second half.

The question is a troll.
 
This one or very similar is all over the place causing some quite funny rows. It's ambiguous, it's designed to be ambiguous. However as an Engineer I simply cannot persuade myself to disassociate the bracketed term and because I can legitimately expand the equation 6÷2(2+1) > 6÷(2x2+1x2) then I'd have to say 1.

legitimately expand 3(2+1) and you'd arrive at the correct answer ;)

The question is simply over the use of the forward slash '/' to represent division

the divisor isn't *everything* to the right of the '/' rather its just the 2

In order to write the equation as you're thinking of it you'd need to add another set of parenthesis in order for everything to the right of the '/' to be the divisor

As per the links earlier

without parenthesis you get:

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=6/2(1+2)

with parenthesis you get:

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=6/(2(1+2))
 
But does it automatically mean that? Why doesn't it automatically mean 6/(2+4)

And my calculator seems to think it's 1.

You should really accept the facts that, it can be interpreted either way and the other fact that it doesn't matter.

That is odd, however, I've never heard of
* takes precedence over /
Afaik they're equal, but the calculators I've tried automatically make :
6/2(1+2) = (6 / 2) * (1 + 2) = 9


Why does one calculator do the one and the other does it differently ?

So far:
TI, Google
vs
Apple, Casio

The calculator stances on this.
 
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My initial thoughts were the answer is 9 but spreadsheet says 1! Having read the thread I agree the equation is ambiguous and both answers could be correct depending on how you interpret it.
 
That is odd, however, I've never heard of




Why does one calculator do the one and the other does it differently ?

So far:
TI, Casio, Google
vs
Apple

The calculator stances on this.

My calculator is a casio fx 9860G SD

which is (was?) one of the best graphical calculators you can (could?) buy.
 
My initial thoughts were the answer is 9 but spreadsheet says 1! Having read the thread I agree the equation is ambiguous and both answers could be correct depending on how you interpret it.

This is maths not poetry, there only can be one answer.
 
Without any symbols, it's utterly ambiguous. The bracketing is inconsistent and there's no multiplication sign. It's badly written specifically to generate arguments like this one.

Your version requires you to assume that the 6/2 is bracketed before you multiply out the (1+2), but that's no more valid than assuming that the 2(1+2) is bracketed, given the inconsistent manner in which the thing is written under your rules.

If they wanted it to mean (6/2)*(2+1) then the first part should be bracketed, given that they've gone to the trouble of bracketing the second half.

The question is a troll.

It's not ambiguous. My understanding of BODMAS is where there is equality you go left to right. Here the division and multiplication rank equally. Therefore leftmost operator takes precedence. Therefore, according to those rules, you divide before you multiply in this equation.
 
My calculator is a casio fx 9860G SD

which is (was?) one of the best graphical calculators you can (could?) buy.

Odd, edited...


What I was taught at school was :


6 / 2 * (1 + 2)
is the computer way to write
6
_ X (1+2)
2

So essentially (6 / 2) * (1 + 2) = 9...
 
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It's not ambiguous. My understanding of BODMAS is where there is equality you go left to right. Here the division and multiplication rank equally. Therefore leftmost operator takes precedence. Therefore, according to those rules, you divide before you multiply in this equation.

Maybe my GCSE maths got left a bit behind once I got to uni...

At the end of the day, none of the post-GCSE maths I have done has suffered because of this sort of nonsense, so I'm not bothered if I'd drop a mark on a GCSE paper.
 
That is there though, you have to put it in for certain programs to understand it but its implicitly there.

Wow thread this moves fast, that makes no sense now :p
 
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