View Poll Results: 48÷2(9+3) = ????
2
29
80.56%
288
7
19.44%
Voters: 36. You may not vote on this poll
48÷2(9+3) = ????
#34
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Here'* another site with the same disagreement.
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=488334
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=488334
#36
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True Car Nut
I'm sticking with my answer of 288. This is why.
I get 288. In the acronym PEMDAS, the M and D operations are at the same priority and the A and * are at the same priority. Arithmetic operations at the same priority are evaluated left to right. So for example, 2 + 5 - 3 is the same as (2 + 5) - 3 = 7 - 3 = 4, while 2 - 5 + 3 is the same as (2 - 5) + 3 = -3 + 3 = 0.
I can't say that I remember my algebra teacher in ninth grade going into quite such detail (in fact, all I remember her telling us was the acronym MDAS, with a mnemonic device of My Dear Aunt Sally), but programming languages such as C, C++, C#, Fortran, Pascal, and others are very specific about operator precedence.
For this reason, 48÷2*(12) should be evaluated as if it were written (48÷2)*12 = 24 * 12 = 288.
If you really meant
it should be written as 48/(2(9 + 3)). That forces the multiplication to be performed before the division.
I can't say that I remember my algebra teacher in ninth grade going into quite such detail (in fact, all I remember her telling us was the acronym MDAS, with a mnemonic device of My Dear Aunt Sally), but programming languages such as C, C++, C#, Fortran, Pascal, and others are very specific about operator precedence.
For this reason, 48÷2*(12) should be evaluated as if it were written (48÷2)*12 = 24 * 12 = 288.
If you really meant
it should be written as 48/(2(9 + 3)). That forces the multiplication to be performed before the division.
#37
BANNED
True Car Nut
Also: http://www.mathsisfun.com/operation-order-pemdas.html
Example: How do you work out 12 / 6 × 3 / 2 ?
Multiplication and Division rank equally, so just go left to right:
First 12 / 6 = 2, then 2 × 3 = 6, then 6 / 2 = 3
Multiplication and Division rank equally, so just go left to right:
First 12 / 6 = 2, then 2 × 3 = 6, then 6 / 2 = 3