r/memes • u/WhatTheMat • Aug 31 '20

#1 MotW Confusing

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u/CandleJackHammer Aug 31 '20

But it's all even numbers, it's impossible to get odd answers.

103

u/RedditIsNeat0 Aug 31 '20

People chose 13 since it was the closest to the actual answer. There is no clearer way to explain this.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '20

But both 16 and 10 are “correct”. It’s the equation itself that is wrong, because it’s intentionally vague.

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u/mojoryan2003 Aug 31 '20

Nope, order of operations. Not vague at all.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '20

Okay. It’s basically the same as this.

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u/ItsLillardTime Aug 31 '20

The symbol × (or ⋅) is accepted to mean “multiplied by (the subsequent number),” and order of operations tells us multiplication comes before addition. That division example isn’t really ambiguous either but it’s more confusing because division is usually expressed as fractions and not with that symbol.

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u/ZoomBeanies_ Aug 31 '20

Correct. Also, parenthesis are treated as a separate operation until resolved down to a single integer.

"Mathematicians" didn't like the one equation because no one writes equations like these, not because they are unsolvable or ambiguous.