Quote:
Originally Posted by Z-man
And I have a difficult time understanding how phd's and 'math wizzes' are saying there are two answers to the same equation! Ok - that may be the case in some abstract math (square root of -1 and i) but this is far from advanced math!
The answer depends on how one interprets the equation, and if one properly applies the order of operations, then the answer is clear...
-Z-man.
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One
SHOULD interpret the equation in the conventional way. The convention used in
EVERY math course,
EVERY physics course, and
EVERY engineering course I (or anyone else) has ever taken is that you do the implied multiplication or division on a parenthetical term immediately after you perform the work inside the parenthesis.
To an engineer the intent of the calculation 48/2*9+3 is ambiguous. The intent of 48/2(9+3) is clear as a bell. Everything to the left of the division sign is in the numerator, everything to the right is in the denominator.