What is the answer?

I can't figure it out!

48÷2(9+3) = ?

 

Oh man, that was a hard one. The answer is... 2.0.

 

That's what my calculator gave me, but I got 288.

 

oh god how will I ever figure this one out??

 

Order of operations.

1. Things inside of parentheses and brackets.
2. Exponents and roots.
3. Multiplication and division.
4. Addition and subtraction.

 

I got 288 as well.​

They've changed it now.

Instead of multiplication, division, addition, then subtraction, they have whichever comes first from left to right.

But multiplication and division still come before addition and subtraction.​

 

Okay, let's see... Multiply the stuff in the parentheses with two, then add those together, and you get 48/24. Which is two.

 

It is about positioning the last segment.

48 ÷ 2 * (9+3) = 48 * 0.5 * 12 = 288

48 ÷ (2 * (9+3)) = 48 ÷ 24 = 2


True order of operations makes it the top one, but depending on context you might need to use the bottom

 

That is highly illogical. For instance, you cannot divide an integer by an expression and get an integer. Instead you will have:

2(9 + 3) / 48

Which is actually closer to the reality of what you should be doing if you are going from left to right. By your logic again with this format, that would result in:

18 + 6 / 48

Or:

24 / 48

Which is:

2

The order of operations is always a safer bet.

 

I got 288 in my head, and since a bunch of other people got it, I'm calling it 288. And besides, order of operations gives it 288, I don't know any other way to do it, so I'm not sure how people are getting 2

 

Different orders of operations I'm guessing.

We are from an older generation.

 

They... Changed it?
I don't think that would work considering, you know, the order of operations determines every answer.

 

What I just said was order of operations.

Like I said, they've changed it, at least in my old middle school.

I remember when order of operations was like that, with PEMDAS and all, but during my sixth grade year, they said they've changed it to what I said prior.​

 

but you can't do that

 

Well tell that to the mathematicians I suppose.

Unless my school has lied to its students...​

 

the two comes in if you multiply the two into the parenthesis before dividing. Since it was written vaguely I can't tell you what intent was on the problem. You normally wouldn't see the multiplication written like that in this context.

 

Didn't you get the e-mail? Ever since they changed it, all your correct test answers from high school are now wrong. You're going to have to repeat the ninth grade.

 

It must have been the way it was written. The way Mixt explained it makes sense.

48 ÷ 2 * (9+3) = ?

Not:

48 ÷ 2(9+3) = ?

 

But, but, how can I repeat something I never did in the first place?

 

You don't need to add the multiplication sign though.

When there's a number next to parentheses, it's a given to multiply.​