this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2025
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[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 134 points 4 months ago (51 children)

I mean, obviously ten.

But I at least understand 16.

I deeply worry about the percentage just next to the other three numbers.

[–] lauha@lemmy.world -1 points 4 months ago (41 children)

Your obviously is only a convention and not everyone agree with that. Not even all peogramming languages or calculators.

If you wanted obviously, it would have to have different order or parentheses or both. Of course everything in math is convention but I mean more obvious.

2+2*4 is obvious with PEDMAS, but hardy obvious to common people

2+(2*4) is more obvious to common people

2*4+2 is even more obvious to people not good with math. I would say this is the preferred form.

(2*4)+2 doesn't really add more to it, it just emphasises it more, but unnecessarily.

[–] TherapyGary@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 months ago (3 children)

PEMDAS isn't obvious to "common people"? Why not? It doesn't seem like an arbitrary convention to me...

If "×" means "groups of," then "2+2×4" means "two plus two groups of four" which only makes sense, to me, to be read as "two plus two groups of four" rather than "two plus two groups of four"

Sure the order of operations could be arbitrarily different, but I feel like we settled on that order because it simply makes more sense intuitively.

I'm aware of the possibility that it only feels natural and intuitive to me because I was taught that way, but I at least don't think that applies to this specific example

[–] SmartmanApps@programming.dev 2 points 3 months ago

PEMDAS isn’t obvious to “common people”?

Everyone is taught the rules of Maths

If “×” means “groups of,”

It means repeated addition actually

“2+2×4” means “two plus two groups of four”

No, it means 2+2+2+2+2

Sure the order of operations could be arbitrarily different

No they can't

I feel like we settled on that order because it simply makes more sense intuitively

It's because Multiplication is defined as repeated addition, so if you don't do it before addition you get wrong answers

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