On April 08 2011 06:43 StarStruck wrote: You just had to re-open this thread. Didn't you?
I think for now on, all contests that require you to do a skill testing question in order to win should use this question (not like they don't anyway!). Ha.
I didn't (and can't) open a thread.
I thought that poll is interesting because I don't think it's a question of skill but a question of convention. And the conventions you're exposed to at school can differ from those you're exposed to at university.
Although this also means that professors and grad student are lazy and sometimes do not write their equations in the most correct from ^^. Kind of a case of experience breed complacency :p
On April 08 2011 06:43 StarStruck wrote: You just had to re-open this thread. Didn't you?
I think for now on, all contests that require you to do a skill testing question in order to win should use this question (not like they don't anyway!). Ha.
I didn't (and can't) open a thread.
I thought that poll is interesting because I don't think it's a question of skill but a question of convention. And the conventions you're exposed to at school can differ from those you're exposed to at university.
On April 08 2011 06:50 chestnutman wrote: People saying the question is ambiguous are right. Just using basic algebra rules you get 288. However in college multiplication without a symbol often assumes the multiplication in a bracket, resulting in this.
wolfram binds variables to a coefficient if there are no brackets thats why it interprets 1/2x as 1/(2x) instead of x/2
i think its funny how people who chose 2 are now belittling those who chose 288? sick ego wars
Id argue that the ones that answered 288 and mock someone who would answer 2 are the ones with least experience in math. That actually helps in this case .
On April 08 2011 06:54 crate wrote: I would never write something that potentially ambiguous to begin with. ... I'm agreeing with micronesia that the only reason you'd ever write the expression in the OP to begin with is to try to confuse someone. I really don't see a practical use for purposely trying to confuse someone with mathematics.
I didn't vote in either poll because honestly I can see either answer being correct for either expression and it's a coinflip which one I'd pick on any given day. When I use Mathematica to try to write 1/(2x) I write it with the extra parentheses so I don't confuse myself, even though it interprets "1/2x" as "1/(2x)"
This is, as several other people said before, because fractions don't work so well in a single line.
The expression is also very inelegantly written, as if it is intended to make people read it wrong. In all math or scientific papers, you will order the subexpressions to have the division sign last, or you will make things clear using parantheses.
It's like writing "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana". It is correct, but everybody will interpret it wrong the first time, so it's not good style.
oh yeah and for the record i initially read this as 2, but when picking the answer, i picked 288, because 288 is technically correct and it's always safe to tread on the side of technicalities
it's a good thing i've learned from 4 years of uni.. when you're "technically" right, you're right. but when you're "conventionally" right, the prof can be a dick and tell you to screw off ^_^
On April 08 2011 06:51 MangoTango wrote: Clever poll. But I'm pretty sure it's 288 and 1/(2x).
care to elaborate why you're taking completely different approaches to essentially the same equation?
I don't think it's wrong to view it that way. The symbols used are pretty important to take away the ambiguity.
One case of 48÷2(9+3)= used ÷ instead of / with no variable. It's pretty clear the aim of the problem is to focus on order of operations.
The second case is way more ambiguous, but I'd say in college it was more common to interpret that as 1/(2x) since the / creates some kind of up and down illusion.
On April 08 2011 06:51 MangoTango wrote: Clever poll. But I'm pretty sure it's 288 and 1/(2x).
care to elaborate why you're taking completely different approaches to essentially the same equation?
This is why I think the poll results would be different if one was unable to see the poll results or the thread beyond the OP before participating in the poll.
On April 08 2011 06:51 MangoTango wrote: Clever poll. But I'm pretty sure it's 288 and 1/(2x).
care to elaborate why you're taking completely different approaches to essentially the same equation?
I don't think it's wrong to view it that way. The symbols used are pretty important to take away the ambiguity.
One case of 48÷2(9+3)= used ÷ instead of / with no variable. It's pretty clear the aim of the problem is to focus on order of operations.
The second case is way more ambiguous, but I'd say in college it was more common to interpret that as 1/(2x) since the / creates some kind of up and down illusion.
i'm not saying either one is wrong, i'm just saying that in case 1, he's prioritizing divison over implied multiplication whereas in case 2, he is not, and am just interested in what causes that surely changing ÷ to / couldn't have been it, but maybe it was. hence i would like to hear his reasoning ^^
I see the mistake now, some people see it as (48 )/2 (9+3) and if 48÷2 is seen as a fraction then the answer comes out to 288, but what some (me included) saw was 48÷[2(9+3)] comes out to 2. This question is a bitch...
The problem here is obviously that people are using PEMDAS instead of the superior PEDMAS. Also, several other poor souls are confused enough to be using BEMDAS or BEDMAS, while failing to realize in fact that there are no brackets in mathematics.
EPT
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