this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2025
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Presuming PEMDAS is our order of operations and the 5 next to the parentheses indicates multiplication...
2+5(8-5) -> 2+5(3) -> 2+15=17
Other than adding a multiplication indicator next to the left parentheses for clarification (I believe it's * for programming and text chat purposes, a miniature "x" or dot for pen and paper/traditional calculators), this seems fine, yeah.
...I worry about how many people may not understand how to solve equations like these.
That's not even an equation, just basic arithmetic
Technically not algebra, right? Algebra is where you move things around and solve for variables, and that kind of thing. This is just arithmetic.
You're right, that's what I meant. Fixed it, thanks!
Fair enough, I've heard "math problem" and "math equation" used interchangeably.
Also you would be surprised how many people do not know basic algebra, at least in the US rofl
You. You are one of them bc you do not know what an equation is.
There is no algebra here. This is arithmetic.
When I made my example, I used an algebraic expression, but yeah, the original question was arithmetic, sorry. Not very good at explaining things XD
While I never failed a math class, I also never went past high school. When would your presumptions NOT be true?
Some forms of programming syntax, although there are the fringe cases where an equation (or function in programming) is represented by a symbol in conjunction with a parentheses input.
For example:
y(x) = 2*x+3
5+y(1) = 10, as 1 is substituted in for x in the prior equation.
And in some languages a number can be used as a name of a variable or a function, so it can be anything really
Not in most programming languages, though. You cannot start names with a number. Unless you're using some strange character that merely looks like a number, anyways. Programming with unicode can get weird but generally works without issue these days.
Wouldn't we just assume function expressions are always "in parenthesis"? Then it's just a substitution and no rules were changed.
Multiplication sign is not required in situations like this. Same with unknowns - you don't have to write
2*x, you just write2x.