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 :)
That's cool and Imma let you finish but I'm not a mathematician and the answer is 9.
Very cool article on an aspect of math that I've never thought too deeply about before 👍
I am so glad that nothing I do in life will ever cause this problem to matter to me.
The way I was taught in school, the answer is clearly 1, but I did read the blog post and I understand why that's actually ambiguous.
Fortunately, I don't have to care, so will sleep well knowing the answer is 1, and that I'm as correct as anyone else. :-p
You state that the ambiguity comes from the implicit multiplication and not the use of the obelus.
I.e. That 6 ÷ 2 x 3 is not ambiguous
What is your source for your statement that there is an accepted convention for the priority of the iinline obelus or solidus symbol?
As far as I’m aware, every style guide states that a fraction bar (preferably) or parentheses should be used to resolve the ambiguity when there are additional operators to the right of a solidus, and that an obelus should never be used.
Which therefore would make it the division expressed with an obelus that creates the ambiguity, and not the implicit multiplication.
(Rest of the post is great)
isn't that division sign I only saw Americans use written like this (÷) means it's a fraction? so it's 6÷2, since the divisor (or what is it called in english, the bottom half of the fraction) isn't in parenthesis, so it would be foolish to put the whole 2(1+2) down there, there's no reason for that.
so it's (6/2)*(1+2) which is 3*3 = 9.
the other way around would be 6÷(2(1+2)) if the whole expression is in the divisor and than that's 1.
tho I'm not really proficient in math, I have eventually failed it in university, but if I remember my teachers correctly, this should be the way. but again, where I live, we never use the ÷ sign, only in elementary school where we divide on paper. instead we use the fraction form, and with that, these kind of seemingly ambiguous expressions doesn't exist.