Sadly, this is actually true, people actually don't know simple math and operation order.
Ajd they ask me why I hold such low expectations for the future 🤦.
To be fair, it’s completely arbitrary, and all of math would be easier to understand, although slightly more verbose, if the only rule of order of operations is “always use parentheses to denote order, there are no implied parentheses”.
lazy mfs from centuries ago who were mortified by the thought of having to write ( and ) too much (lord what i wouldn’t give to hop in a time machine and show them lisp) should not be dictating our mathematical notation in this century. Explicit grouping is always more obvious to the reader.
Maybe for very simple calculations like this one, but for more complex ones parenthesis actually make them much harder to read and write. If you've ever built a complex functions in Excel you know how difficult it gets because for 90% of the excel operations require parenthesis which means it works exactly like you'd want math to work. Just yesterday I had to do a more complex index match search in excel and excel corrected my parenthesis, because when your function is supposed to end with 5 parenthesis good luck keeping track of how many parenthesis you actually need to write out. Similarly if a week later I would have to change something inside that same function it's going to take a lot more time to deconstruct the formula because of the abundance of parenthesis.
And the addition of parenthesis in math is entirely unnecessary because the nature of most operators already dictates the order of operations. Exponents are just multiplications and multiplication are just additions. 2^3^ is the same as 2 x 2 x 2 is the same 2 + 2 + 2 + 2. If you take the example in the image then 2 + 2x4 transposed into additions is 2 + (2 + 2 + 2 + 2), parenthesis added to indicate what used to be the multiplication. Why people get it wrong is because they don't understand the nature of those operators and so they do (2+2)x4 which is how they get (2+2)+(2+2)+(2+2)+(2+2) = 16. The order is clear, you can't do addition before you do multiplication, because multiplication is a certain form of addition, and you can't do multiplication before you do exponents, because exponents are a certain form of multiplication. The inverse functions maintain the same order of the function they're inverting, meaning you can do subtraction before division and you can't do division before rooting. No need for parenthesis for the natural order of operations. Parenthesis serve a purpose when you need to denote exceptions to the natural order of operations, like (2+2) x 4.
That's true, but it's not that hard either.
Even then it’s still a quick mistake to make. If I’m not paying attention I could easily make a mistake like this, because I’m used to reading things left to right.
I would love to watch people who say that diagram a sentence, per 10th grade English class rules.
(For the record, PEMDAS).
Multiplication is a notation which means add some number by itself a number of times.
5 x 3 = 5 +5 + 5
2 * 4 = 2 + 2 + 2 +2
So when you see some like 2 + 4 * 2 it literally means. 2+4+4
To be clear, it's the standard order of operations (PEMDAS) that is arbitrary. The expression in the post, assuming PEMDAS, is not arbitrary. There's only one correct answer.
Also, I dunno man. The window from where math is complicated enough to have multiple different operators to where expressions get too complicated to be easily readable with just parentheses to denote order should be passed by like, early to mid highschool, if not junior high. Point being, frankly if you're struggling with PEMDAS, your either still a high schooler, or you probably should be.
Or we can all learn polish notation
It's not arbitrary just because you don't understand the how and why of it. The expression could certainly be written more clearly, but that's an entirely separate matter.
I will literally commit hate crimes against all of humanity if I had to write brackets around all operations in math. Surely remembering 6 things is easier than writing out brackets 100 times a day
Bold of you to assume people would get how parentheses work. Especially when multiplying blocks of additive parentheses (unless you'd expect to always write the expanded form, please tell me you wouldn't)
Since the correct mathematical answer isn't one of the options, the people picking the other options are representing a real resistance to the order of mathematical logic that binds us.
The real answer is 14 because I'm 14 and this is deep.
13, because it's just as wrong, but it's the closest to 10. ;)
For me it's 13 because it's the "wrongest" one. Every single number in the term is even so you'd expect people to at least choose something that is even, too. Not only is 13 odd, it's a friggin prime..
HEAR HEAR!
He looks like he just walked straight out of Idiocracy
I’m not sure if you’re aware or not, but at the moment that photo was taken, he was in the middle of trying to interview then-president Trump.
I don’t remember what specific thing Trump said to elicit that reaction, and I’m not really in the mood to re-watch the interview to remind myself. Suffice it to say, Trump said a lot of just absolute nonsense.
Yeah I'm aware of the interview, but he also looks like the actor from Idiocracy and the expression he was making when he realized the time skip.
Without realizing he just walked into it.
Pemdas isn't as arbitrary as people in this thread think it is.
I love maths, and I'm going to butcher any attempt to explain why pemdas isnt totally random. But you can look it up if you wanna know more I guess
Besides no one ever uses that notation - by the time you learn about quadratics, you leave multiplication symbols out of the equation entirely and much of the notation changes shape, with division exclusively being expressed as negative powers or fractions.
At that point you aren't going to make mistakes, since each hyperlevel uses a different style of notation. Pemdas is used to teach 4 year olds, and it's fucking dumb. What happens with a log, or sine function. Don't even get me started on integrals and derivatives.
Pemdas is shit, but not because it's abirtary. In fact it's shit because it's a shithole acyromn
Pemdas is mostly just factoring, kinda. That's how you should think of it.
2x4 is really 2+2+2+2.
That first 2+(anything else) can't be acted/operated upon until you've resolved more nested operations down to a comparable level.
That's it. It's not arbitrary. It's not magic. It's just doing similar actions at the same time in a meaningful way. It's just factoring the activities.
I understand why people get 16. But how do they get 14, 15 and... 13???? Trolling, right?
13 is actually the best solution given that 10 isn't an available option.
I wouldn't call the "best" solution to a clearly wrong option, the same as I wouldn't call the "best" option jumping off a cliff to an assured death instead burning alive on a fire, but yeah it's the option closes to the real one.
Ohhh I see. Those 26%ers trying their best to approximate
BEDMAS says you do multiplication before addition, so it's 10.
The one I learnt at the dawn of time was BODMAS.
bracket of Division Multiplication Addition Subtraction.
I learnt this in the 70's early 80's in South Africa, so not sure if things have changed.
B/P are the same (brackets/parentheses) and O/E are the same (order/exponent), and the order of M and D doesn't matter since those two have equal priority and are evaluated left-to-right. Hence PEMDAS, BODMAS, BEDMAS, etc. are all the same.
Same in POMDSA, PODMAS, BOMDSA, PEMDAS, BEMDSA, et al.
Don't forget PEDMAS! lol
Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, muthafuckahs!!
people here are talking about pemdas and bedmas and i’m literally that meme with plain old dmas.
