If I were smart I'd never click on this thread.

The answer is 1.

It doesn't suffice to just "solve what's inside the parentheses first". You have to eliminate ("get rid of") them as well.

imago said:

Some of you are embarassing yourselves immensley.

But other than pdogz and stymie, I'm not mentioning any names!

Keep it up folks!

You're a bad person...

PDogz said:

Stymie said:

PDogz said: That's how I got my final answer.

I have no idea WTH you two are talking about!!

All I read was ...

ncjifhep9th934p9 multiply xnciwjf2[9h89

the answer is one...

I'm smart enough to realize this is a test of knowledge, not intelligence, therefore those who do not know the answer are not necessarily "stupid".

RenHoek said:

Maaaan, y'all are WAY too technical...

This is IMAGO we're talking about!!!

Clearly the answer to 6÷2(1+2) = BUTTHOLE

My work is finished here...

!!!!!

Is that some new fangled math shit?? Did they redo how we do math??

babynoz said:

imago said:

Some of you are embarassing yourselves immensley.

But other than pdogz and stymie, I'm not mentioning any names!

Keep it up folks!

You're a bad person...

littlemissG said:

If I were smart I'd never click on this thread.

littlemissG said:

If I were smart I'd never click on this thread.

imago said:

babynoz said:

You're a bad person...

Oh my damn!

MoBetterBliss said:

PDogz said:

To explain how I arrived at my final answer:

6÷2(1+2) =

Following the Order of Operations: PEMDAS (Parenthsis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction)

First thing to solve would be what's in the parenthesis: (1+2),

then what you're left with is: 6÷2(3) = or... 6÷2x3 =

Then, since there are no Exponents in the equation, the next in order is Multiplication: 2x3 (...which equals 6)

then what you're left with is: 6÷6 =

The next thing in the Order of Operations is Division: 6÷6

which equals 1

Since the equation contains no Addition or Substraction (the last two items in the Order of Operation), the equation is already solved: 6÷2(1+2) = 1

So, the answer is 1

you're wrong... here's why

the order of operations is PEMDAS (Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction)....but the order is

Parenthesis, then

Exponents, then

Multiplication and Division, then

Addition and Subtraction

so firstly you do the parenthesis... which gives

6÷2(1+2) = 6÷2x3

then, because multiplication and division are equal....you work left to right: 6÷2x3 = 3x3 = 9

the answer is 9

EDIT - I was wrong here.

[Edited 12/30/12 13:33pm]

i saw this on a fb post.

i think the answer is 1. been a long time since high school algebra though

so is the answer 1 or 9?

It's a problem that stems from the syntax of mathematics. The division sign isn't as explicit in all cases when it's written like that. That's why mathematicians use the horizontal line instead.

It can be interpreted as either,

6

------

2(1+2)

or as

6

--- * (1+2)

2

Apparently scientific calculators give either 1 or 9 as an aswer to it depending on the model.

If you browse the Internet you have professional mathematicians defending both sides of the view.

novabrkr said:

It's a problem that stems from the syntax of mathematics. The division sign isn't as explicit in all cases when it's written like that. That's why mathematicians use the horizontal line instead.

6

------

2(1+2)

i think that's the most elegant and clear.

[Edited 12/30/12 11:23am]

imago said:

69 + ( 3x3 )

imago said:

Some of you are embarassing yourselves immensley.

But other than pdogz and stymie, I'm not mentioning any names!

Mach said:

69 + ( 3x3 )

= imago

novabrkr said:

It's a problem that stems from the syntax of mathematics. The division sign isn't as explicit in all cases when it's written like that. That's why mathematicians use the horizontal line instead.

It can be interpreted as either,

6

------

2(1+2)

or as

6

--- * (1+2)

2

Apparently scientific calculators give either 1 or 9 as an aswer to it depending on the model.

If you browse the Internet you have professional mathematicians defending both sides of the view.

but the example above isn't how it's written in this case... if it was, the answer would obviously be one

the reason mathematicians might be arguing is because most equations are written like the above, it's rare to see "÷"

the answer, as the problem is written, is 9

I've read a bit more about this issue now and it seems like most programming languages are now set in a way that the result is 9. That seems to be the currently accepted convention in many American academies as well. Really, this seems to be as arbitrary an issue to me as what the correct length of dashes are when writing documents in different languages on MS Word.

However, what bothers me about this is the irrelevancy of the a(b+a) type of notation used in the example. If modern day mathematicians interpret that just as a handy way to cut down the amount of symbols they have to write then it overlooks the way the notation is used in other areas of mathematical theories besides arithmetic. It's just used to hide the multiplication symbol.

novabrkr said:

I've read a bit more about this issue now and it seems like most programming languages are now set in a way that the result is 9. That seems to be the currently accepted convention in many American academies as well. Really, this seems to be as arbitrary an issue to me as what the correct length of dashes are when writing documents in different languages on MS Word.

However, what bothers me about this is the irrelevancy of the a(b+a) type of notation used in the example. If modern day mathematicians interpret that just as a handy way to cut down the amount of symbols they have to write then it overlooks the way the notation is used in other areas of mathematical theories besides arithmetic. It's just used to hide the multiplication symbol.

[img:$uid]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y240/delivertheword/misc/waitwhut.jpg[/img:$uid]

novabrkr said:

The answer really is 9 though. It's like what MoBetterBliss stated - it's written that way without the employment of the horizontal line in the example, so there's only one way to understand it.

What the 6 / 2 (1 + 2) notation means is just that it's "6/2 times 1+2", in other words "3 times 3". What's in front of the brackets is just an integer expressed as an (unnecessary) fraction. It's that simple simple in the end.

It's not even about any sort of "PEMDAS" memorization rules and their interpretations. The use of the "÷" symbol just threw me off, especially when coupled with the abbreviated expression used for the multiplication.

RenHoek said:

Maaaan, y'all are WAY too technical...

This is IMAGO we're talking about!!!

Clearly the answer to 6÷2(1+2) = BUTTHOLE

My work is finished here...

The answer is 9.

It's designed to fool you in at least two ways if you're not careful. Especially if you're used to solving mathematical problems in a certain way that follows the same visual patterns.

Nobody uses neither the "÷" or the "/" symbols here when you're in tertiary education, so you're just used to seeing things expressed as fractions with the horizontal line. So I put the horizontal line where the "÷" symbol is and moved the 2(1+2) part "below the bar", because it looks like a "thing" of its own as the multiplication symbol isn't visible (due to a convention that allows it to be hidden). So, I started solving something that I had just put together wrong in my mind.

Then there's the PEMDAS rule that is not really expressed as a mathematical rule. It doesn't necessarily make that much sense if you start examing what type of word choices people employ when they bring it up. I read quite a few debates on it on the Internet and there were plenty of interpretations of what you should actually do to the parentheses in this situation.