Quote:
Originally Posted by svandamme
They are not points of view, they are mathematical rules.
They are not opinions
They are not guesses
They are not open for interpretation...
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and
Quote:
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there is a rule that says when operations are at the same precedence level, do left to right.
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Yeah, and
there is a rule that says when writing a sentence we start with a the first letter capitalized. --bfd.
Seriously we all -get- that there are rules (
damn-it)
Now I certainly appreciate the 'rules'
thought, but sorry, the OP eqn is a classic example of math notation ambiguity. (mixing 3rd grade symboligy
÷ w/ more advanced notation grouping) ...Now had the eqn been 48 ÷ 2 x (9+3) ...then yeah, the L/R-rule-nazis
* would have an easy 288 win.
. . .And for you rules-nazis; consider that if mathematical notation/syntax is so perfect then why are there SO MANY different symbols for say, multiplication? ( x * (dot) implies multiplication against a bracket.)
Again, math notation is just that -
notation. ...a tool to an end.
Like it or not, math notation is not some fixed, unmoving set of logical perfection. It has a history. It has evolved. It does evolve. (shocking, I know)
To the current.. people use brackets, braces and grouping extensively, because the whole L/R rule is simply not a reasonable convention when solving large eqn's.
Again, the OP eqn was
intentionally set to pit a third-grade math rule against a (math-working) grouping method. How about 1/ 2X .. 1÷2X ... what about -3
2 ...is that 9? ...or -9?
Oh what did the writer mean? 
*just to add a dash of thread-kill.
