Social media users have been left in a tizzy over a seemingly perplexing math equation, causing a rift as folks argue over the right answer and how to perform the order of operations.
The question was posted by a user on Sunday and quickly went viral, receiving more than 3,300 retweets and more than 13,200 likes as folks argued why their answer was the correct one.
The equation reads, ‘8÷2(2+2),’ and has left most users contemplating between two answers: 16 and 1.
A math question posted on Twitter Sunday quickly went viral, receiving more than 3,300 retweets and more than 13,200 likes as folks argued why their answer was the correct one
The equation reads, ‘8÷2(2+2),’ and has left most users contemplating between two answers: 16 and 1
‘Both 1 and 16 are correct answers because the notation of the equation is incorrect,’ one user so passionately claimed. ‘Can everyone stfu now?’
Even Pornhub got in on the fun and boastfully claimed that the answer was 1.
One user was confident that her two math degrees proved to her that the answer was 1. The user even wrote out the steps she took to get her answer.
Several users posted videos of the equation, proving that writing it out showed how the answer was actually 16.
‘Both 1 and 16 are correct answers because the notation of the equation is incorrect,’ one user so passionately claimed. ‘Can everyone stfu now?’
Even Pornhub got in on the fun and so boastfully claimed that the answer was 1
One user was confident that her two math degrees proved to her that the answer was 1
The user even wrote out the steps she took to get her answer
Teachers and other mathematicians rushed to share their copies of the order of operation as proof for why their answer was either 16 or 1. But confusion sprouted when social media users used different forms of the order of operation to get their answer.
There are three order of operations commonly taught across the world: PEMDAS, BEDMAS and BODMAS. These methods are conventional ways in which people can solve problems and must be done from left to right.
PEMDAS stands for parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition and substraction. It is often expanded to the phrase, ‘Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.’
Teachers and other mathematicians rushed to share their copies of the order of operation as proof for why their answer was either 16 or 1. But confusion sprouted when social media users used different forms of the order of operation to get their answer
There are three order of operations commonly taught across the world: PEMDAS, BEDMAS and BODMAS. These methods are conventional ways in which people can solve problems and must be done from left to right
BEDMAS changes out the ‘P’ for ‘B’ which just means brackets. These are referring to the same thing in equations. The interchanging of the D and M doesn’t hold any actual value in the order of operation.
BODMAS, on the other hand, stands for brackets, order, division and multiplication, and addition and subtraction. Order is synonymous with exponents in this case.
An important note in the order of operations – and a large reason why so many users are getting the question wrong – is that you must do either multiplication and division followed by addition and subtraction based off which follows first from left to right.
So in all three orders of operation, multiplication has the same precedence as division while subtraction has the same as addition.
Mike Breen, a Public Awareness Officer for the American Mathematical Society, performed the equation and following a ‘strict order of operations,’ found that the answer is 16.
‘According to order of operations, you solve whatever is in the parentheses first. That gives you 4,’ he explained to Popular Mechanics.
‘Then, in PEMDAS, multiplication and division take equal precedence, so you’d do the first that occurs from left to right. So you’d do 8 divided by 2 first, which is 4. Thus, it’s 16 according to classic order of operations.
‘But the way it’s written, it’s ambiguous. In math, a lot of times there are ambiguities. Mathematicians try to make rules as precise as possible. According to strict order of operations, you’d get 16, but I wouldn’t hit someone on the wrist with a ruler if they said 1.’