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What math operation order do you use? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 week ago by TotallyWorthLife@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I have seen several people saying the order operation is

Brackets/Parenthesis
Orders (roots and powers)
Divisions
Multiplications
Subtractions
Additions

But I was taught it as

Brackets/Parenthesis
Roots and powers, left to right (independently of the exact operation)
Divisions and multiplications, left to right (independently of the exact operation)
Subtractions and additions, left to right (independently of the exact operation)

So, what order were you taught and/or use today?

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[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah, differentiating between multiplications vs. divisions and additions vs. subtractions doesn't make sense, because they're the same thing respectively, just written differently.

When you divide by 3, you can also multiply by ⅓.
When you subtract 7, you can also add -7.

There is one quirk to be aware of, though. When people notate a division with a long horizontal line, that implies parentheses around both of the expressions, top and bottom.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Something I haven't seen mentioned yet is how we remember it as either BEDMAS or PEMDAS, but not PEDMAS or BEMDAS. The order of M and D are tied to whether we use the term brackets or parentheses. BEMDAS sounds very wrong to me

[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Why? Why would this be important?

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It's not important, just an observation of spoken language. Similar to the order of adjectives or how there's usually a "correct" sounding way to list two names

https://englishan.com/order-of-adjectives/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonaesthetics

[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

FWIW they all sound equally ok to me. I never learned any of these acronyms, tho I've come across them on occasion, and if someone had presented any of the 4 as THE acronym for this I'd have believed them.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 days ago

I think because I read about this riddle in the past, I might have built up some associations myself. So maybe there's actually nothing there 😄