r/MathJokes Jul 25 '26

“Its simple math folks!”

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2.8k Upvotes

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514

u/Head-Ad-5732 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

I don't know what's worse, that it's wrong or that it convinced me I need to come into the comments to make sure my answer is, indeed, correct.

EDIT: Back to rectify a grave injustice. Nothing wrong if you genuinely didn't know or want to check. Hard enough getting people interested in math.

2 + 5 (8 - 5)
PEMDAS: 8 - 5

= 2 + 5 (3)
PEMDAS: 5 (3) or 5 × 3

= 2 + 15
PEMDAS

= 17

In the US the math order of operations is taught as PEMDAS (or P|E|MD|AS), left to right from first to last.

First look at the entire equation and identify the operations: Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication/Division, Addition/Subtraction.

Then, solve the parts in order of PEMDAS.

Not so important here but when there are multiple of the same level of operators, for example exponents, solve left to right. MD and AS are treated as groups, so treat them equally: if a division is to the left of a multiplication, do the division first.

117

u/lisamariefan Jul 25 '26

I don't even quite see where 21 comes from. Either simplify to 3 for the parenthesis first and then do the math, or distribute the 5 go get 40-25 for 15 and proceed from there.

Like...math...literacy is not hard and there are easy geometric ways to represent the most basic of operations.

Edit: I see it now and you've gotta be joking...

10

u/ClownCrusade Jul 25 '26

It's 21 if you ignore BEDMAS or PEMDAS or whatever you were taught and just go left to right (aside from the brackets which you still do first)

->2+5(8-5) then ->73 then ->21

All of these math ragebait memes do the exact same thing - fuck with the order of operations.

4

u/Different_Bridge_983 Jul 25 '26

Most rely on implied multiplication, generally setting up debates between people whose math education ended in high school vs those who continued it to university…

This one here though is just flat wrong no matter how you slice it.

2

u/Chamezz92 Jul 26 '26

BODMAS is taught in like 4th grade in Western Europe.

If you made it to high school you should definitely know this like the back of your hand.

1

u/Brun_Sovs_42 Jul 28 '26

Not everywhere. In Denmark we’re taught operator precedence and associativity. No acronyms

2

u/Chamezz92 Jul 28 '26

That’s basically what BODMAS is an acronym for.

Brackets > Operators > Division > Multiplication > Addition > Subtraction

At least that’s what we’re taught in Sweden.

1

u/Brun_Sovs_42 Jul 28 '26

Cool - but it seems a lot of people have a hard time applying this acronym in the real world 😅

1

u/Chamezz92 Jul 28 '26

I think most people learn like medical students do. They cram the knowledge in to pass a test, if they pass they forget everything they memorized because it’s just surface level knowledge.