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Possible Duplicate:
What is 48÷2(9+3)?

Hi all

I don't know if anyone has seen this question floating around Facebook, but me and a friend are a little conflicted.

The question is: $6 \div 2(1+2) = ?$

Should this be interpreted as $\frac{6}{2(1+2)} = 1$, or $\frac{6}{2} \times (1+2) = 9$?

I went with the first, using programming operator precedence. My friend, however, went for the second, saying "In algebra, bracket multiplication binds more tightly than explicit multiplication".

What I'd like to know is, what is the answer to this simple equation in programming terms and algebra terms, or are they exactly the same?

Thanks very much,

James

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    https://i.stack.imgur.com/gYLWw.jpg2017-03-04

1 Answers 1

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It should be interpreted as ambiguous and sent back for clarification. Whoever wrote it should write $(6\div2)(1+2)$ if that's what's meant, $6\div(2(1+2))$ if that's what's meant.

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    Thanks Gerry. You make very valid points there, and that pretty much sums it up for me. I'll stick to my programmer-ey ways and say it's 9, while other people can use different methods to get 1 :-)2011-04-29