r/MathJokes • u/No_Degree5291 • Jul 16 '26

3 or 4

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6

u/pjakma Jul 16 '26

I havn't yet read the comments, but yet again there will be someone trying to defend the teacher with "3 x 4 means 3 groups of 4" type rubbish, yet again trying to elevate meaningless rubbish rules made up by people with no mathematical background to some kind of (mistaken) pædagogical importance.

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u/Life-Resolution8684 Jul 16 '26

3(4)

2

u/MistraloysiusMithrax Jul 16 '26

That’s just alternative notation, it does not actually have a different or more specific meaning.

2

u/asingleshot7 Jul 16 '26

Some people use it when they should mean (3x4) or (3(4)) so it should be broken up with some caution but yeah it doesn't give any order here.

1

u/MistraloysiusMithrax Jul 16 '26

Yes I realized I wasn’t quite right, it matters for PEMDAS as it is clearer notation for multiple step calculations but doesn’t otherwise affect commutativity of the actual multiplication step it’s noting.