Z-man, i see (9+3) as 12, so 24*12 is 288

Passed it around my office

2 Phd in Engineering and physics = 2

4 Master of Mechanical Engineering = 2

5 BS in Engineering = 2

No one got 288

which means absolutely ... Eff all if they aren't here to discuss it and/or explain their result..

Then all those folks are going to struggle passing a 5th grade math test. :)

It's really quite simple

÷ or / means exactly the same , devide the first number, by the second one.

multiplying or devision has the same priority
anything between ( ) goes first

When no other priorities remain, go left to right

so 48/2*(9+3) = 48/2*12
and 48/2*12 = 24*12 = 288

You are technically correct but it's a hollow victory. By that logic, you should get the same answer if written a tiny bit differently:

48
______

2(9+3)

But 99 of 100 people seeing that will say the answer is 2.

2(12) means 2x12

48 divided by 2 times (12) does not imply that the 12 is somehow attached to the 2. Actually, yes, once the math inside () is done, you can drop them because they don't mean/do/change anything any more.

the question is easy to read as 48/(2(9+3)), but that's NOT what is written, or what 48 divided by 2 times (9+3)

I've had a lot of math. Tons of it. Maybe not as much as some of you, but probably more than most. I just don't see how we can still be discussing this. It's pretty much black and white.

When I first looked at the problem, I did the same thing that lots of other folks have done. "That's written really weird, the person must have meant 48/(2(9+3))". But that is absolutely not how it's written. Based on the order of operations, the answer is 288. As has been stated, it's poorly written. Part of the problem is written like grade school math, and part of the problem is written the way it would be written in algebra or calculus. The two really don't mix well.

As I see it, there are two ways to do the problem, the way it's written (the right way) that gives the answer 288 and the way that you ASS-U-ME the person writing it meant for it to be done (the wrong way unless you can ask the person to clarify and confirm) and that way gives the answer 2.

Guys variables placed together or next to parenthesis as opposed to using the "x" means the term are one element and supersede normal order.

Once you solve inside the () ,the () doesn't go way you. You still have to solve 2() before dividing into 48 to satisfy the order of operations.

Fixed it for you. The rule is that stuff inside the parentheses comes first. Stuff outside doesn't mean anything WRT the order of ops.

I'm a straight A math whiz too for the most part (maybe not for Differential equations, I blew that class off :rolleyes:).

The problem is like I said before, your wife, because she knows math so well, is assuming things based on a poorly written problem.

The 2(9+3) is not in parentheses, so there is no reason to put both terms under the line as your wife did.

that looks to be the problem, what is written vs what one thinks they are seeing.

hahahaha. Too smart for their own good.

When you get like that, you do a lot of this ASS-U-ME because you ASSuME that everyone else is an idiot and you know better.

Is it 2() or is it "48 2nds"()

Or to put it differently: 48/2 = 24. So wouldn't it follow that it can be 24 * 12?

-Z

I think it was a test to see how many of us he could sucker in.

That's because the answer is 2.

^ what he said

This

48
______

2(9+3)

is the same as

48/(2(9+3))

but is not the same as

48/2(9+3)

My old buddy Heisenburg says the answer is 2 and 288 AT THE SAME TIME...........

Why add those extra parenthesis? A/B is just a shorthand way of writing
A
B
with a keyboard. Thus it's the same. ;)

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