Settle a dispute?

A2Z said:
130.

200/2 = 100 then + 30.

Pretty simple. Divide by half means divide in half, not divide by 0.5 etc.
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OP's stupid mate's brother spotted. Sound the alarm.

sx_turbo said:
If the question read divide by half of one then I would agree 430, but the question reads as if the the answer should be 130.

It's all in the wording and interpretation.
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No. From the OP:

Divide 200 by half and add 30? What do you get?
 
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Yep, poor grammar is the issue, taken literally it's obviously 430, however, it could be also divide in half and add 30 = 130 as much as it could be 32..
 
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'Divide by half' is the same as multiply by 2.

Your mate is dividing in half.

The real answer is 42 though, obviously.
 
[FnG]magnolia said:
It's not "poor grammar" or "interpretation". You don't get to answer the question that you'd prefer was asked.

Divide 200 by half and add 30? What do you get?
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OK, if not poor grammar, it's a poor choice of phrasing at the very least.

If you google "Divide by half" AI will tell you this:
"Divide by half" is an expression that refers to dividing numbers or objects into two equal parts. However, technically, dividing a number by 1/2 is the same as multiplying it by 2, or "doubling". For example, 30 divided by 2 equals 15, or half of 30.
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My brain immediately jumps to the (technically correct) interpretation as we all agree on, but since I live with someone with Dyslexia I am perhaps more aware of how grammar/phrasing is essential to ensure clarity with the widest audience. Ironically I am a terrible communicator myself much to the ire of said dyslexic individual..
 
There's a reason Mathematicians use clearly expressed symbolic formulae rather than writing stuff out in words.

130. 430. 32. They're all justifiable. The first is the most natural English interpretation. The second is the pedants pick. And the third is for those who like to partake in homegrown drugs.
 
So are we expected to just blindly assume that 200 and 30 are in decimal base 10, and not hexadecimal or literally any other base notation you care to use?

Also, if the person asking the question was Finnish, then it would definitely be said divide by hal-f, as in not harf. Not that it would alter the end result(once the base quotient had been clarified and agreed by all parties), but it would be how they say it. I watch two Finnish streamers and they both say it, so I am obviously extrapolating this to the entire population.

Edit: Or, if it was Baldrick being asked the question. "Some beans"
 
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130
430
32

It's ambiguous enough to be any of the above (probably more possible combinations...)

Edit: to answer the question literally:

Q: "Divide 200 by half and add 30? What do you get?"
A: "A headache"
 
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j4ska said:
It suggest that people need to go back to school to learn mathS :D
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Clearly (British) English as well ;)

The correct (to me) answer is 430, but I can see the justification for the the other answers as well, depending which missing information you subconsciously fill in so that it actually makes sense.
 
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Haggisman said:
The 4(?) different answers just in this thread suggest otherwise :confused:
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People are throwing up lots of options to confuse things, but really you've either said divide by half or times by half. Everything else is semantic :)

Edit: I feel that for the layman, the above is true. If you happen to be a mathematician or an engineer or a pedant, it may not be. But I'm guessing that this question is aimed at the layman.
 
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Haggisman said:
Clearly (British) English as well ;)

The correct (to me) answer is 430, but I can see the justification for the the other answers as well, depending which missing information you subconsciously fill in so that it actually makes sense.
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Nothing wrong in version without S ;)
 
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