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6÷2(1+2) (programming.dev)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by wischi@programming.dev to c/memes@lemmy.ml

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https://zeta.one/viral-math/

I wrote a (very long) blog post about those viral math problems and am looking for feedback, especially from people who are not convinced that the problem is ambiguous.

It's about a 30min read so thank you in advance if you really take the time to read it, but I think it's worth it if you joined such discussions in the past, but I'm probably biased because I wrote it :)

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[–] SmartmanApps@programming.dev 1 points 8 months ago

When the @onion said there were two different sets of rules, you know as well as I do that they meant strong vs. weak juxtaposition

Neither of which is a rule in Maths, as had already been pointed out. The 2 relevant rules, both of which never got mentioned in the whole discussion, are The Distributive Law and Terms.

You’re right that in reality nobody would write an equation like this

No, that was wrong - they really would. 2(1+2) is the standard way to write a factorised term. i.e. a(b+c).

hole that exists in the standard order of operations

There's not a hole in the order of operations - there's a hole in people's memories where The Distributive Law and Terms used to be. You'll notice no students ever get this wrong, because they remember all the rules.

given no other context to do so, you would either have to pick a side

That "side" being follow the rules of Maths - works every time. :-)