Jerry 🦙💝🦙Jul 4, 2023

Y’all…

I had to go to FB to find out about fireworks tonight due to a passing rain storm. I haven’t been on FB in a long, long time.

There are people posting elementary school math problems and adults are arguing about the answers.

What is happening to this world? Did people forget how to do basic arithmetic?

Show threadMatthew Miller Jul 4, 2023
@jerry My understanding is that those kinds of engagement-bait math posts are intentionally ambiguous to foment disagreement. They're the kind of problems you'd never see in academia because the order of operations are under-defined.
Show threadJerry 🦙💝🦙Jul 4, 2023
@iamkale I suspect you are right. But that’s the thing: the answer is trivially obvious. And I’m not talking about the cute ones that have a factorial (!) at the end - just addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
Show threadrusJul 4, 2023
@jerry @iamkale there are regional differences (eg PEMDAS v BODMAS) that keep the debating going through different timezones. As long as everyone you work with use the same ordering (and notation) it works out. When people are sure there is only one true way... Facebook. Seems like a good lesson for life in general.
Show threadKonrad RudolphJul 4, 2023

@rusozoll @jerry @iamkale PEMDAS = BODMAS. The only regional difference is the name; the order of operations is the same.

To be clear, there *are* regional differences in maths notation conventions. Just not in the precedence order of the four basic operations. It just seems that many people misremember, or were taught poorly.

Show threadrusJul 4, 2023

@klmr @jerry @iamkale the differences are minor, and the questions people argue about are intentionally written without explicit grouping.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephenlaconte/viral-math-equation-controversial-pemdas

It's an old article, but so is the engagement trick.

This Controversial Math Equation Has Everyone On The Internet Arguing

I need to lie down.

BuzzFeed
Show threadKonrad Rudolph
@rusozoll @jerry @iamkale I'm aware. My only point is that there are *no* differences between BODMAS and PEMDAS. They're two different names for identical rules.
Jul 4, 2023 at 4:47pmMastodon for Android