MGoRob

April 8th, 2011 at 11:09 PM ^

The problem with this math equation is that whoever created it, is either an idiot or wanted to create ambiguity in the answer. Without a "word problem" associated with this, we have no idea what the equation is supposed to mean. And nobody in their right mind would create that equation without a second parenthesis if needed.

If I ran across a lab book that had that equation in it, I'd flog whoever was responsible.

Gene

April 8th, 2011 at 11:42 PM ^

It doesn't matter what it's "supposed" to mean. The correctness of a solution has nothing to do with what the author meant to write, but what he actually wrote. And while it may appear ambiguous to many, it is not actually ambiguous. It should be pretty obvious this was written intentionally to try to trip people up, at which it succeeds more than I would have ever thought to hilarious and somewhat freightening effect.

BigBlue02

April 8th, 2011 at 11:08 PM ^

I'm wondering if white_pony_rocks has figured out he was wrong so he decided not to post on this thread anymore or if he still thinks he is right so he's back on tRCMB bragging about how dumb he thinks we are

Timnotep

April 8th, 2011 at 11:25 PM ^

is the fact that half the people who got the right answer, did so in the wrong way.

Yeah they got 2, but a lot of them seem to think that it's because multiplication trumps division (which it doesn't) and not because the 2 is tied to the (9+3) by the distributive property. I get the feeling they (those who got 2 by the wrong means) would be saying 288 if they thought multiplication didn't trump division.

Timnotep

April 8th, 2011 at 11:36 PM ^

Half of the people who got 2 as there answer got it in PEMDAS, the M is technically before the D , so they think that multiplication comes before division... therefore they see the 2 multiplied by (9+3) and that's why they do that first, otherwise a lot of them would likely end up with 288.

Whereas the correct way multiplies the 2 and the (9+3) but for different reasons.

I'm saying they're getting the right answer but if they didn't think that multiplication came first a lot of them would end up with 288.

Shaqsquatch

April 9th, 2011 at 12:39 AM ^

The answer is 288, there is no ambiguity involved. If you think the answer is 2, you're wrong. Changing the 2 to 1/2 does not change its relationship to 9+3, because the operation between the 48 and the 2 happens first. 48*(1/2) = 48/2, regardless of the second part of the equation, because this operation is performed first. Please stop, you're pushing our community dangerously close to RCMB territory with this ignorance.

urbanachiever

April 9th, 2011 at 12:50 AM ^

Thank you.  I am upset and frankly surprised by how many people are responding with 2.

The division sign does not mean divide by everything to its right in the expression, unless everything to its right is parenthesized.  You just divide my the next term.  I thought this was like 6th grade math

mejunglechop

April 8th, 2011 at 11:44 PM ^

288 is the right answer. There is no valid "different reason" for combining the 2 and (9+3). The division sign doesn't mean everything after it is denominator. 

I promise this is true. Take a cold shower and look at it again.

Timnotep

April 9th, 2011 at 12:19 AM ^

I'm not going to pretend to be a math genius (I know what I'm doing though), and since both my parents are mathematicians, my father was an Airforce aerospace engineer for twenty years, and my mother was an Airforce Electrical engineer for 10 years and still teaches math when both of them, who have something like 5 math degrees between them, agree on something like this I'm inclined to believe them.