Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Algebraic Equation

I stumbled across a mathematical problem a few days ago, and I must say I'm rather disappointed at the answers some people gave.
This is a reoccurring math problem that has varying solutions and methods at arriving at individual answers. The most popular being 1 and 9. Which is right?

÷ 2 (1+2)

Now if you're "good" at math, there's absolutely NO reason for you to arrive at an answer other than 9! 
My reason?

Going back to BODMAS, you have to solve whatever's in the bracket (parentheses) first. Then you proceed to the next order of operations which is where "o" comes in. Of/Others/Orders simply means indices or things like squaring, powers/exponents, square roots, etc (I'm not going to explain the other signs).

Let's solve:
B
(1+2)
3

Next up is division (after "of")
6/2
3

Then you multiply: 
3 (3)
3 x 3
equals 9

Those who arrive at 1 solve it this way:
÷ 2 (1+2)
÷ 2 (3)
÷ (2 x 3)
÷ 6
1

I know you'll probably blame PEMDAS (but don't forget you solve from left to right with this!), yet how do you multiply 2 over a bracket(parentheses) while it(2) has a sign by it? That's breaking the rule! Secondly, since you carried 2 over to multiply, what stopped you from doing the same with 6? Hmm. 


P.S I used an online calculator, my phone's calculator, and even a pocket calculator...and with the same setup, they all arrived at the same answer. NINE!


Case closed 
*_*
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