Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Verburg
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if the person that wrote the calculator code doesn't know the rules he will get the wrong answer...
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Yeah, those idiots who programed those HP calc's. ...and to think that NASA was so stupid to use those devices for alt landing program for the space shuttles.
I should point-out that both the HP and Mathcad eqn writers give a graphical (non-ambiguous) representation of the entry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Verburg
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2(3) and 2x3 and 2 • 3 are identical too..
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No. They MAY be identical. ...but when it comes to writing logical mathematical groupings they are not.
If you want to stamp your feet and demand that everything anyone needs to know about math operations, they learned in the third grade, then so be it. ...but the OP eqn is
intentionally ambiguous. And,
this inconsistency in notation is nothing new. ...just as is the eqn 1/2x (read: is that .5*X ? ...or 1/(2x)
Demanding that "left to right"
always takes precedence is simply short-sighted. (unless one is in the third grade)
Again, engineers and math geeks often use notation beyond the third grade rules. Sure, you can claim they are "not right" to do so, but we also don't speak the Queens English, now do we?
...this will lead Dari to spazz-about with the story idea of "Rebel Nerds . . . on Planes .. with snakes."