Please do the following equation (page 5)

VM44

6/2*(1+2)

Working Left to RIght, and evaluating expressions within parenthesis first, gives

3*3 = 9

drewcoul

The first thing you have to do is identify the terms. There are three terms in the equation: (X),(6/2), and (1+2).

You have to perform the operation in the parenthesis first then work left to right. so you get 9.

6÷2(1+2) is ambiguous and is the problem. Applying order to an improperly-written equation is pointless, as the equation isn't written according the rules of the standard applied. Thanks, C6H12O6 for turning me on to the site so I could create the proper equations; these look a lot better than the ones I tried to type out earlier. These are the 2 possible ways to correctly write the equation and each has a different answer:

or

TD

In both PEDMAS and BODMAS, Multiplication and division are of equal importance, as are addition and subtraction. For this reason, they are to be completed left-to-right

PEDMAS

"Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, Addition and Subtraction"

BODMAS

B Brackets

O Orders

DM Division and Multiplication left-to-right

AS Addition and Subtraction left-to-right

6/2(1+2)

Brackets first gives us:

6/2*3

Left to right, the division comes first, so that is what must be done before the multiplication

3*3

Now the multiplication.

9

TD

Of course, if it were written correctly, there would be no opinions/discussion....

startingover

I've never even heard of BODMAS, BEDMAS, or PEMDAS and I came up with 9.

Pika_Chu

Okay, PEMDAS, please excuse my dear aunt sally, Bedmas, those are all correct, what needs to be understood is that multiplication may come first in the acronym, but multiplication and division are part of the same step and on the same level of priority. Thus, the problem is done left-to-right.

The problem depends on whether or not 2(1+2) is in the denominator or not. In other words, is the equation asking "six divided by everything to the right of the division symbol" or simply "six divided by 2, also, 2 times the quantity of 1 plus 2?" If the equation was asking the former, then it would be written as follows:

6/[2(1+2)], the brackets being used to indicate that the denominator includes EVERYTHING TO THE RIGHT OF THE SYMBOL. Since these brackets are not there, then there is no reason to assume that the equation is asking that you divide by everything to the right of the symbol, thus we conclude the equation is saying the same thing as 6/2 times (1+2).

6/2(1+2), step one, no matter what, is parentheses (or brackets, because brackets are like second-level parentheses), then we get 6/2*3, if we work left to right, we get 3*3, or 9, for the value of x.

To verify, we break the equation down into all of its seperate parts. Can we all agree that the left of the equals sign states the following?

6 divided by 2 times 3? If so, then there are three numbers we are dealing with here. If I move things around a bit in the equation 6/2*3=x (by way of dividing both sides by 3), I can make the equation look like this:

(6/2*3)/3=x/3.

The threes cancel out on the left side, I am left with 6/2=x/3, and 6/2=3, so

3=x/3, we multiply both sides by 3 to get x, and again, we get x=9.

For FURUTHER verification, we can substitute 9 with x back into the equation, like so: 6/2*3=x, x=9, so that means 6/2*3=9, then I divide both sides by three again:

I get 6/2=9/3, reduce the fractions, we get the following:

3=3. The statement is true, therefore, x=9.

Now I'll substitute the alternative solution and see if it works, given x=1.

6/2*3=1, first step, we divide both sides by 3, we get:

6/2=1/3, reduce the fractions, we get this result:

3=/=1/3, 3 is NOT equal to 1/3, so 1 is an incorrect value of x. Thus, the correct answer was the afforementioned x=9. Oddly enough, though, 3 and 1/3 are INVERSES...interesting...

Pika_Chu

Anyone want to add to this? Maybe correct any errors? I think I've solved it...

WontLeave

@Pika_Chu

If you use 1 as x, then you have to solve as everthing right of the / being the denominator. You solved for six halves times 3 instead of 6 divided by 2x3. The division in an equation really needs to be vertical to be clear. Once again, I believe 2(1+2) should be considered a single entry. While it's incorrect to write it this way, 6/2x wouldn't be seen as 6 divided by 2, then multiplied by x. It would be seen as 6 divided by 2x. This equation is just written completely wrong and there is no more correct answer than there would be for blue ÷chair.

TD

I guess it could be argued that juxtaposition takes precedence over simple multiplication.

I was curious how different scientific caluclators would handle the problem

TI-30XIIS says 9 Okay, that's kind of a low-end calculator.

Daughter's TI-84Plus also says 9.

TI-89 says 9, but first removes the ambiguity by inserting the "*" sign 6/2*(1+2)

Microsoft Excel refuses to accept the formula and recommends the same correction.

Please do the following equation

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