math question

I know the answer and have known it for ~50 years but apparently it is kicking up a sh** storm. Has anyone gotten a whiff of this on Facebook? Got a link?

Think it is 20

LOL wrote: Think it is 20

It depends on if you are a republican or a democrat. :HighFive:

You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.

https://www.google.com/search?q=you+are ... 3&ie=UTF-8

From another thread:

"the nuns taught me that in 2nd grade .
I have an addendum to the 'math expression story' (and then I promise, on my part, to let it rest. I know this off-topic subject has taken up too much valuable room here).

We have a fellow official here at the township who claims to be a Libertarian, but doesn't actually fit that mold. He is a fellow who likes to raise people's hackles and who believes in outlandish conspiracy (to my mind, at least) theories. He loves to come into my office and talk politics when he is in the building. We actually do agree on many things. It is when he gets outlandish that I simply listen without comment.

Today I told him about the math problem fracas with which I had been involved on Facebook. He asked to see the problem, so I wrote it out for him, and he got 360 as the answer (the actual answer is 20). When I explained to him the order of operations, he insisted that his answer was just as correct as mine, 'because no parameters were given when the problem was posed'. I asserted that the Order of Operations is an understood mathematical absolute, and has been accepted mathematical procedure for centuries, yet he assured me that he never heard of it, and that order of operations must be provided when the problem is posed, or else there are several different 'correct' answers.

I can understand that a person either has not learned, or has forgotten, the Order of Operations. If that is the case, then he should simply say so (as FUBHO did, in reference to his pre-programming education). Insisting that someone who is unaware of that concept has a right to come up with an incorrect answer, and it should be deemed correct because of his 'unawareness' is ludicrous.

I was getting quite frustrated, and raised my voice more than I should have, when several people came in to see me, at which point I asked him to leave, and he walked into the back of the building with the comment, 'I don't agree with you, but we can discuss this later.'

If he returns before I leave for the day, I am going to ask him, 'If someone poses the question to you, 'Who is the President of Latvia?' and you answer, 'Ronald Reagan', does it make your answer correct, simply because you never came across the appropriate answer, or no hints were given to you as to how to find it out?'

I suspect he will have a well-founded (to his 'there are no absolutes' mind) response.

If people were determined to stick to the concept of 'absolutes' (right/wrong, truth/falsehood, etc.) the world would be a significantly better place to live and do business with one another."

http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg. ... d=29462693

Off the charts.



"I would never say that the use of parentheses, etc. negates the validity of the underlying necessity of operations order. "

Nor would I. However, that's also NOT the problem under consideration here ? We're talking about the opposite, in the (purposeful) LACK of operators... and the lack being applied in a purposeful effort in communication ?

5 17 345 12

What's the correct answer ?

If you get it wrong... it proves you are stupid and can't do math ?


"This exercise has far outlived its usefulness. And I sincerely apologize for the time and space it has taken up on the board."


I disagree that it hasn't been useful... because, as I've been saying all along... the relevant element in the dispute isn't about "the math" at all, but ONLY about the communication issues.


If you can't understand why people were upset by the effort being made to prove them foolish... or why they reacted in the way that they did to the "reveal" proving that... ? The relevant point here isn't that those people ARE wrong about arcana in math rules, it's that they are NOT wrong about feeling the way they do about the effort made trying to make them look foolish... and that they ARE going to vote in the next election. If you can't communicate with them honestly about math... and don't understand why they react as they do when treated that way ??? It's likely they're going to have similar issues with POLITICS as they do with math ?


And, for Republicans... that's not a bad thing... unless Republicans screw it up...


In politics, this year... it is Democrats who've been playing the public for fools... using that EXACT schema. We're at the stage where people are aware enough to be pissed off about it... even if they can't fully explain how and why they've been lied to... they're not wrong in their reaction, when they feel it.


The lack of focus apparent in how they express themselves... when they feel they've been scammed ?


All Republicans have to do... is supply the operators... and people will get the right answer..."

http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsgs ... htype=Next

I am easily amused.


"I disagree that it hasn't been useful... because, as I've been saying all along... the relevant element in the dispute isn't about "the math" at all, but ONLY about the communication issues.

Aren't you the one who said in another post:

"experts" don't always get to define how we do things... particularly when the method they prefer doesn't have a valid reason to exist, and doesn't make a lick of sense. The answer "we've done it this way for hundreds of years"... has a proper rejoinder: "and it still doesn't work ?" After hundreds of years of failure"

THAT isn't disputing the math????????????????????

You use a lot of words and you string them together well, but you talk in circles!"

http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsgs ... htype=Next