tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2207789741693789296.post3178128566762194049..comments2024-03-28T09:23:46.097-04:00Comments on Cool Math Stuff: Math in the News: Facebook Math ProblemEthan Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09611695185154134251noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2207789741693789296.post-10814269062081200252013-04-17T22:38:38.670-04:002013-04-17T22:38:38.670-04:00At first I got 12:
6+2(1+2)=12
1=2=3
2*3=6
6=6=1...At first I got 12:<br /><br />6+2(1+2)=12<br /><br />1=2=3<br />2*3=6<br />6=6=12<br /><br /><br />looking more carefully, I see that it was really:<br /><br />6/2(1+2)=<br /><br />Many of the errors might come from mistaking ÷ for + in the case of people using small fonts for increasing the amount of text on screen. I recommend using / instead of ÷ for legibility. Let us try again:<br /><br />6/2(1+2)=1<br /><br />1+2=3<br />3*2=6<br />6/6=1<br /><br />It is important that symbols are clear.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02725385230463619574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2207789741693789296.post-57866818265318784992013-04-16T08:10:45.220-04:002013-04-16T08:10:45.220-04:00Without parenthesis to guide you and all operation...Without parenthesis to guide you and all operations are either multiplication and division or all operations are adding and subtracting then the grouping is left to right.<br /><br />In the referenced problem it works like this.<br /><br />6 / 2 (2+1)<br />6 / 2 X 3<br />3 X 3<br />9<br /><br />The key to this problem is the first two lines are equivalent and the second line is clearly a left to right order of operations problem which yields 9.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12409717929678347416noreply@blogger.com