indy100
A seemingly simple math problem appears to have stumped every single person on the internet, breaking brains and calculators in the process.
The math problem was first tweeted out in summer 2019, with the request for “one of my mutual friends solve this.”
But this week the problem found new people to drive up a wall.
The equation is fairly straightforward at the start. But exactly how you solve the problem is not proving to be so direct. More
1
If I had to solve it with math it = 1. If I was a Democrat calculating the next tax increase, it must be 16.
The answer is: The # of active brain cells Grandpa Mumbles has.
Hint: The same # of Super Bowls the Jets have won and the # of Stanley Cups the Rangers have won in my lifetime.
16.
You solve the contents of the parentheses first which is 2+2=4.
Then you take the division and multiplication in the order you come to them. Since you come across the division first, that is what you do first. 8/2=4
Then you multiply the results of those two sub equations, giving you 4*4=16.
Once the 2+2 is done, all the operators are equal as per the rules. So, as written, you then calculate from left to right. So 16.
If I code this equation into a PLC the product will be 16.
*Programmable Logic Controller
I agree.
Now consider Z=!(!(A&B&C&D))&(!(B&C)))
Hint: Show your work.
PS: I used to think that multiplication came before division but I have since seen that is not the case multiplication and division have the same hierarchy as do addition and subtraction — unless, of course, there are parentheses involved.
As it is, if an exponent is inside the parentheses then that is done before the parentheses. It is another case of a helpful hint probably causing more difficulties than it solves.
according to common core, it is anything you want it to be.
I’ve gone through vector analysis and diff eq, and I’ll say it is 1
this is racist
white privilege
the answer is white privilege.
(edit button here –>)
America has been usurped just like it’s money. We are a sovereign country, and yet we have just the good faith and credit of the Untied States.
You live in mercantilism. It doesn’t mater whether you agree, or not. You falsely believe in Capitalism. Capitalism is Marxism you Keynesian bastards…You do not live in liberty nor independence. So you are against that what you wave the American flag over. The Communists are pitting you against yourselves. Hello..?
Oh man are you being played… It’s repugnant tax dollar after tax dollar.
It’s inferring 16 but is constructed incorrectly. It’s like being asked to spell check in English something written in French.
Garbage in, garbage out.
Parenthesis are racist. They oppress.
PPS: Another example of an unhelpful rule-of-thumb. I learned in school that if two descriptive words are in a row that the first one is an adverb and the second one is an adjective.
That may be true if you are talking about a “dark blue car,” as dark is an adverb describing blue and blue is an adjective describing car. However, if you are talking about a “big blue car” then both “big” and “blue” are adjectives describing “car.”
What Burr said.
A plane on a tread mill will leave the ground.
Oh my abacus motherfucker..
RadioMattM -Hold on there, whitey!
Blue is a ‘feeling’
and big is ‘fat shaming’,
and cars are environmentally incorrect.
Also, why couldn’t the car be BLACK!?
🤣
I imagine this goes on all day during school.
What a waste.
No matter if you (add) or divide first. But you must multiply last.
Thus: 4 X 4 = 16
PEMDAS. That acronym stands for Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction.
No matter what though, the answer is racist.
The division sign is improper notation. That is what us causing people’s confusion. Because of the improper notation, it is impossible to know what is being divided: 8 by 2 [8/2(2+2)], or 8 by 2(2+2).
I came up with 16.
All my math training came before common c***; however, math is definitely not my strong suit. Those two things COULD cancel each other out, but as I’m in agreement with several other folks here, I am pleasantly surprised.
The answer is 42.
Now go find the question.
16.
And, Marooned, 81 million votes.
Burr is right, it’s a poorly written question.
The expression “2(2+2)” signifies a discreet integer in context the way it is written. It is not written “2X(2+2)”. Therefore you solve for that discreet integer first which equals 8. 8/8=1.
Math is hard.
Just to clarify PEMDAS.
Multiplication and Division are calculated (from left to right), Addition and Subtraction (from left to right).
Answer is still racist though.
Walpurgis stated the rules as I was taught in school in the 1950’s so the answer is indeed 16.
Math – not even once.
And who ever said math can’t be fun?
My CPA would ask, what do you want it to add up too?
The answer is 16, anyone who says otherwise is a moron.
Whoopsie — typo — meant Z=!((!(A&B&C&D))&(!(B&C)))
Z=B&C
“Whoopsie — typo — meant Z=!((!(A&B&C&D))&(!(B&C)))”
And as a result of that typo a million lives were lost when the nuclear bomb engineers went to work.
It was unspecified as to whether one should use the lefty version of math, or the correct version of math. I shall refrain from completing the problem lest I be cancelled and lose my job, retirement, good reputation, and peaceful life.
All I know is even reading the answers made me panic like I did in freshman algebra.
Haven’t read any answers yet.
I come up with 1 for the answer.
Showing my work:
(2+2) = 4
2(4) = 8
8÷8 = 1
Now to go see how I’m wrong.
8÷2(2+2)=?
First, consider this…
The division operators [÷] and [/] and [——] are identical by definition. The given expression then can be written this way:
8------
2(2+2)
In order to perform the operation on the dividend [8], the divisor [2(2+2)] must be evaluated. The divisor’s value is therefore 2×4 = 8.
Now you can divide the dividend [8] by the divisor [8] and get the result: 1.
However, performing the operations according to the rules of priority/sequence, we get the answer 16. 16 does not equal 1.
What went wrong?
The way the initial problem was written is the problem. By using the operator [÷] instead of [—–], the result is ambiguity about when to perform the division operation. Both answers, 1 and 16, are possible with this notation. Ambiguity in an arithmetic expression is not allowed, so the initial problem is written erroneously.
Purple.
Way to go Unky… math is hard.
THIS ^^ in bold italics above.
It is a number to be found before dealing with the 8 to it’s left.
Odd part to me is that this is never how a real problem is presented. You wouldn’t have the 2+2 in the parentheses, maybe 2+A or A+B, but if you knew the numbers beforehand, and they aren’t variable, then you’re not reducing your math enough in the first place.
I’d hand this back to my 9 yo and write out a note for the teacher. Wouldn’t be anywhere near the first time.
It started with correcting a teacher on smallest sovereign state.
Kid: Luxembourg!
Me: Nope. Go tell her it’s the Vatican.
Kid next day: (sh*t eatin’ grin on his face) Yeah, you were right. That was pretty cool.
Later on, algebra needed a little oversight too. It was like she was mailing it in and didn’t really know the subject that well.
Oh, NOW I can see Unky has posted an astute rendition of an explanation.
Well, sure, you could say it that way…
Ya but what are its pronouns?
The answer is 1, and it’s not hard.
Hey, PEMDAS. You hurt anybody else, when this is over, I’m gonna find what you love the most and I’m gonna kill it. Your mother, your father, your dog… don’t matter what it is, it’s dead.
The mnemonic device PEMDAS implies that multiplication occurs before division and addition occurs before subtraction – the order in which those operations appear in the math problem is not relevant. If this is NOT the case, and multiplication and division operations are calculated in order of occurrence within the problem, then the mnemonic device is wrong.
We were taught equal weight in MDAS. We just went left to right after the parenthesis and exponents were worked out.
Other people didn’t do that. Dunno.
Whenever I was doing code review and found expressions (numerical or logical) where the result was not absolutely fixed regardless of starting from left or right (some compilers go one way, some the other), I would flag it as an error and send it back for fixing. All it normally takes is the careful application of parentheses. Parentheses are cheap…they don’t compile into executable instructions.
The answer is 5.
Black lives matter!
8/[2(2+2)] = 1
8/8 = 1
or
(8/2) x (2 + 2) = 16
4 x 4 = 16
Express the question CLEARLY and get a Clear answer. As Al said, “parenthesis are cheap”
They prevent rockets from accidentally blowing up on the launch pad.
Dadof4:
Take a peek at SMOM, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. It occupies two properties in Rome, and is smaller than the Vatican. Wikipedia says,
SMOM issues its own passports and is a member of the UN General Assembly.
It has been in its current Rome digs since 1630 but it goes back a lot longer than that, via the Knights Hospitaller to the year 1048.
BTW, “everybody” calls them SMOM, but their full name is the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta.
I’ve won a number of bar bets with this little goodie!
I never did what you did, Uncle Al, but I was a Nortel Switch programmer. Programming that switch was from the largest element to the smallest element. With some clarifications. There was some small circuitous shit that dealt with LATAs and ISLUs. It would seem obvious to a database that a (202)222-XXXX would be a specific lata. That’s not actually true. And ISLUs could be mothers, or children.
I enjoyed that work. It was sometimes so tedious I could have gleefully put my head in an oven.
The answer is 1
Multiplication before division
From what I remember from algebra,
2(2+2)
2(4)
8
Then 8/8=1
If the intended answer is 16, I believe it should have been written:
(8/2)(2+2)
16 would DEMAND parentheses
@Erik — I knew a couple of ATT switch guys. Compared to most smartphone and windoze stuff, programming switches is a far more real sort of programming in that it requires understanding of the system architecture and a whole lot more.
Yeah, I did a little bit of everything from the early 70s on. Why, the young whelps today wouldn’t know a plug board full of ANDs, ORs, and XORs if it ran up and bit ’em on the butt!
@ Uncle Al ʘ JUNE 20, 2021 AT 11:05 PM
Very nice, Unky Al
Truly a treasure, you are.
Well, it’s a dang good thing the Founders didn’t include a math problem in the Constitution.
You fools all got it wrong.
The answer is “Multiculturalism”.
I know, because I saw the video.
Please My Dear Aunt Sally
The answer is 1.
Courtesy of my 7th grade algebra teacher, Miss Bess Shafer.
Actually it describes the day the world ends:
8/2/22
Live it up people!
“8÷2(2+2)=?”
After reading all the answers, and wishing to avoid controversy and a resulting war, I have decided to look at the question as a true/false statement.
I will therefore say that ‘8÷2(2+2)=?” is true.
Wot?
8÷2(2+2)=RACIST!
@Uncle Al
I’m starting the code for a Delta robot today. They would not know what an MAM or an MAJ is either!
@billyhall2006 ☑ — Yours is THE BEST comment of the thread, my own most definitely included!
thanx Uncle Al.
I attribute it to having taken a lot of tests.
Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally
You always solve the problem in parentheses first.