Poll: 6÷2(1+2)

6/2(1+2) = ?

  • 9

    Votes: 516 68.9%

  • 1

    Votes: 233 31.1%
  • Total voters
    749
plasmahal said:
I think there should be another poll to see how many people voted for 9 and how old they are...

My theory is they come from a schooling that has drummed BODMAS into their brains so hard they cannot accept any other possibilities if the equation is not written properly.

In real life we have to question ambiguity and then work out what the real question is, sticking to one rule and one rule only is not the way forward.
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Butthurt. So much butthurt. You're not the guy who found out he's just applied to be a male escort are you? So how did the first day go? Butthurt much? :p

Just man up and face the fact that you were/are wrong. You'll feel better in the long run.

P.S. I'm 30 and I voted 9.
 
I'm 32 and voted 1.

I'm now prepared to accept that the correct answer is 9 after wading through page after page of argument. I still reckon the question is written in a wilfully ambiguous way though especially as it appears in the poll. If it were properly divided into numerator and denominator there would be no argument.
 
vonhelmet said:
I've woken up and figured out how to phrase my beef with this.

Bodmas is only needed when resolving expressions that are so badly written that they require bodmas. It's a circular issue. Write it without the need for bodmas and you don't need bodmas because you can read it properly.
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No see the example I give above. BODMAS should only be used when you are sure the equation in front of you is in a logical form!
 
plasmahal said:
He correct;y resolved the bottom half of the fraction first, 2 x 3 = 6 then 6 over 6 is 1.
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This is where all the 9ers are getting their ammunition. They're saying that it's the division sign not a fraction so order of operations takes precedence. Funny how some people who turned it into a fraction still got 9 though...

Shabba.
 
FoxEye said:
Butthurt. So much butthurt. You're not the guy who found out he's just applied to be a male escort are you? So how did the first day go? Butthurt much? :p

Just man up and face the fact that you were/are wrong. You'll feel better in the long run.

P.S. I'm 30 and I voted 9.
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LOL, I see at 30 you still have some growing up to do....

You are certainly someone who proves my point though.

At 30, it's a shame you cannot yet see the wood for the trees and accept that the question is wholly ambiguous. Never mind, maybe you'll get it one day.
 
Blue160 said:
I'm 32 and voted 1.

I'm now prepared to accept that the correct answer is 9 after wading through page after page of argument. I still reckon the question is written in a wilfully ambiguous way though especially as it appears in the poll. If it were properly divided into numerator and denominator there would be no argument.
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At least you are prepared to accept the fact that the question is ambiguous and the OP has achieved a great thread that has caused a lot of debate.

I'm sure in 2 years time FoxEye will have matured enough to see that!!!!
 
vonhelmet said:
I've woken up and figured out how to phrase my beef with this.

Bodmas is only needed when resolving expressions that are so badly written that they require bodmas. It's a circular issue. Write it without the need for bodmas and you don't need bodmas because you can read it properly.
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2x^2 means 2(x^2) and not (2x)^2

everyone would generally just write 2x^2 as we have a convention for dealing with it.

We have an order of operations and it allows us to remove the need for extra parenthesis.

Without Bodmas you'd have parenthesis everywhere....
 
Pinkribbonscars said:
Irony much?

It is the more educated people arguing that it is unclear and could be interpreted two ways.
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Pho said:
Found this explanation from Googling on Yahoo Answers (:cool:):
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Why do people refuse to see the evidence when the evidence disagrees with them?

There's already been a quote from DrMath who said the answer was 9.

Then in post #984 someone claiming to have a doctorate in math gave a very detailed breakdown of why it 9.

They didn't say "it could be 9 or it could be 1".

They said it was 9. Always 9. 9 every single time.

And you guys come back with "educated people think it's ambigous."

You're just resisting the black and white truth that the answer is well-defined and is NINE!
 
dowie said:
2x^2 means 2(x^2) and not (2x)^2

everyone would generally just write 2x^2 as we have a convention for dealing with it.

We have an order of operations and it allows us to remove the need for extra parenthesis.

Without Bodmas you'd have parenthesis everywhere....
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See my post at the top of the page. BODMAS is a rule which er, doesn't work without putting brackets in!
 
plasmahal said:
At least you are prepared to accept the fact that the question is ambiguous and the OP has achieved a great thread that has caused a lot of debate.
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I'm being a bit pedantic on this point but it isn't ambiguous

3 * 4 + 2

is 14

IF we didn't have a convention for dealing with it then some people could answer 18 instead

yet more people could answer that the question is 'ambiguous' and both 14 and 18 are equally valid and that we should have stated (3*4)+2 if we wanted 14

The reality is that we do still have a convention for dealing with this without the need to add extra parenthesis

the question in the OP isn't much more complex and we do have the same conventions... the answer is 9

1 isn't an equally valid answer - its a mistake that you'll arrive at if you don't follow convention

the question is silly and confusing but there is still only one answer to it
 
wmb said:
See my post at the top of the page. BODMAS is a rule which er, doesn't work without putting brackets in!
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Ermmm it removes the need for parenthesis.

How else would you evaluate 2x^2 without parenthesis unless we had a standard order of operations.
 
dowie said:
I'm being a bit pedantic on this point but it isn't ambiguous

3 * 4 + 2

is 14

IF we didn't have a convention for dealing with it then some people could answer 18 instead

yet more people could answer that the question is 'ambiguous' and both 14 and 18 are equally valid and that we should have stated (3*4)+2 if we wanted 14

The reality is that we do still have a convention for dealing with this without the need to add extra parenthesis

the question in the OP isn't much more complex and we do have the same conventions... the answer is 9

1 isn't an equally valid answer - its a mistake that you'll arrive at if you don't follow convention

the question is silly and confusing but there is still only one answer to it
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We're wasting our time here. They deliberately don't want to get it because saying "it's ambiguous" makes them feel smarter.

You can bring a horse to water but you can't make it drink.
 
I'd say 9, but I find it very worrying that people can't agree on an answer. Surely there is one rule to determine who is correctly or is maths just that flakey?

Googling doesn't give a solid answer either, just a lot of arguing like in this thread...

edit i admit i didnt read every page but it seems a few math genii have given proof it is 9, my mind is at ease :P
 
Frenzy said:
I'd say 9, but I find it very worrying that people can't agree on an answer. Surely there is one rule to determine who is correctly or is maths just that flakey?

Googling doesn't give a solid answer either, just a lot of arguing like in this thread...
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Think of it as the mathematical equivalent of 'is the glass half empty or half full' :p
 
Frenzy said:
I'd say 9, but I find it very worrying that people can't agree on an answer. Surely there is one rule to determine who is correctly or is maths just that flakey?

Googling doesn't give a solid answer either, just a lot of arguing like in this thread...
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I wouldn't call it worrying, if something isn't defined well then it's not really surprising that people choose to interpret it differently. I'd normally choose to interpret it in the "standard" way but that may be partially a limitation of the level of mathematics that I have attained.
 
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