Calling any Old Brits who remember their Math

[Ted Striker]

^^ and there were also CSE's, which were below the O levels...
Must say, I am amongst the stupid & old.
What I see is multiplying the sum you have "after" doing the addition.
*Left to right.* you said?
(4+5=9, so 9×8=72)
Y'all are multiplying first, then adding.
So working *Right to left*.
(8×5=40, so 40+4=44)
Why not write it 8×5+4 then?
All will agree on outcome?
Is it convention to do mutiply/divide b4 add/subtract?

This was covered by iceman and glademaster...
PEDMAS stands for
Parentheses
Exponents
Division and Multiplication (from left to right)
Addition and Subtraction (from left to right)

The arithmetic problem as stated by the OP is missing the parentheses, so as to be intentionally vague. Similar problems have been floating around Facebook for quite a while.

[Mazderati]

The expression in the OP is valid without parentheses; PEMDAS is used with and without. The parentheses are missing only if the answer is known to be 77.

[DougW]

Parentheses could be inserted but the equation is to test knowledge of order of operation. With knowledge of order of operations there is only one answer and the extra ( ) are redundant but I have to admit I throw them in for clarity.

My question was when was the old method that was taught just left to right ended. In the UK in the 70s, in US and Canada ? I think much earlier. As above you cannot do semi complicated math just using left to right. E=mc**2 has to written E=m(c**2) to get the right answer with left to right ( or old British method ( it worked so well for teeth))

[iceman]

@Maz: Parentheses aren't required of course, Poindexter. They sure help to make things crystal clear for the less enlightened though.

[Buster Highmen]

Do the parentheses take off?

[Mazderati]

PEMDAS is taught in or around fourth grade (I just looked it up). But let's go with enlightened.

[Harry]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_operations

^^ This ^^

Read it you fucking math JONGS.

[hutash]

Any Brit worth his bangers knows the answer is 42.

[Woodrow Woodpecker]

Thread drift mind fuck:

I have a neighbour who claims that he was taught in A.D. 70's a simple left to right order of operations.

so IV+VxVIII = LXXII rather than XLIV

If this possible? I did some searches and found that the order of operations was settled in the late 1800s.

How did those Roman cats figure out all that shit?

[abraham]

@Maz: Parentheses aren't required of course, Poindexter. They sure help to make things crystal clear for the less enlightened though.

Sure they are required. Some people can't figure things out

Do the parentheses take off?

I heard brackets did. Maybe curly ones.

I owe you a PM. Sorry about that. 🙁.

I'll send it in the morning pending mental clarity

[neufox47]

No. E=mc^2 is not simple arithmetic according to my father in law. Apparently he makes a distinction between simple arithmetic, which allows him to arrive at 72, and all other not simple arithmetic, which allows him to correctly calculate E=mc^2.

For the record, I agree with you DougW. I'm incredulous. So is my 14 yo son taking pre-calc. He was very adamant about the order of ops that you and I agree on.

No wonder they needed the US to bail them out of WWII.

[riser4]

Do the parentheses take off?

Only on a treadmill.

[TurxSki]

No wonder they needed the US to bail them out of WWII.

Yeah, they actually paid a bunch of money back to usa for that.
Wasn't done until kinda recently.
Still owe money from the Great War though.

[rod9301]

Pls tell me that this thread is a joke.

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[DougW]

nope very real, the long story, about 6-12 months ago a neighbour posted on Facebook on those most people get this wrong math problems, which the trick was order of operations. It was just people at the end of road. Well an older Brit (58ish) got all " I was taught simple left to right and that is just as valid....." the Engineer and ex math teacher simply said no that is wrong and I posted a Brit Utube on the way its supposed to be done. Case closed I thought. Fast forward , I read in a comment in some Facebook page that has a similair equation question with 1000s of comments. Well the Brit neighbour is still terribly butthurt about this and referenced that earlier thing, as we were being arrogant for not recognizing that people could be taught something different and that he was hurt that we thought that he was lying.

I commented something like " its a good thing you didn't become a Engineer ' as a bit of a slam. And self esteem issues took off and got pretty ugly. Anyway I could find nothing about if it changed and if when. Wanted to see if he was totally full of shit. I guess the Brits kept this old method till the 70s.

The funny thing is while he was taught the old method, he did know that everywhere in the world including bad teeth land had changed to the current , but had pigheadedly kept with the old. Supper stupid I know.

[The AD]

It certainly could have been taught differently at one time. It's purely a matter of convention. Math(s) is a language and for it to be comprehended by all everyone has to agree on the same conventions, hence PEMDAS.

[rod9301]

I'm sorry but there's no way math was taught that way. In any country.

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[Sparky]

( it worked so well for teeth))

Harsh! (Fat yank )

No wonder they needed the US to bail them out of WWII.

Well you were pretty fuckin slow on the uptake working out hitler was a bad cunt to the Jews and anyone else not blond and tall. Tardy coming to the WWI too.