Solve the math problem

[thekfc]

48/2(9+3) = ?

[ignorante]

I have had people with math degrees tell me it is 288, but I still insist it is 2.

[Bill_McC]

A common technique for remembering the order of operations is the abbreviation "PEMDAS", which is turned into the phrase "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally". It stands for "Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, and Addition and Subtraction"

48/2(9+3) = 48/2*12 = 24*12 = 288

Bill

[thekfc]

I have had people with math degrees tell me it is 288, but I still insist it is 2.

The answers will depend on what standard of operation you used to solve it - "The Standard Order of Operations", PEMDAS or Implied Multiplication.

Below is the solution to both operations:

The Standard Order of Operations:
48/2(9+3) = 48 ÷ 2 * (9+3)= 48 ÷ 2 * (12)= 48 ÷ 2 * 12= 24 * 12= 288

PEMDAS ( as oppose to BEDMAS):
48/2(9+3) = 48 ÷ 2 * (9+3)= 48 ÷ 2 * (12)= 48 ÷ 2 * 12= 48 ÷ 24= 2

Implied Multiplication:
48/2(9+3) = 48 ÷ 2(9+3)= 48 ÷ 2(12)= 48 ÷ 24= 2

You can also use BEDMAS

PEMDAS is
    * Parentheses
    * Exponentiation
    * Multiplication
    * Division
    * Addition
    * Subtraction

BEDMAS is
# Brackets
# Exponentiation
# Division
# Multiplication
# Addition
# Subtraction

[ignorante]

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/48293

[robert angel]

I am HORRIBLE at what I call 'abstract' math, but I got 288 just bouncing around the numbers in my head. The problem is probably trickier than I think and as such, I probably got it wrong.

What's weird is that I can solve problems like the one described, calculate restaurant tips and other similar stuff much easier and faster than my wife can. But for things like high end math, algebra, geometry, calculus, equations, etc., she can do stuff I can't even begin to understand. She had five years of university studying engineering and I studied liberal arts for seven. I got out of college with a -C minus and a prayer in the required algebra course. My friends carried me through sadistics--I mean 'statistics'.

I think the reason why is because the way they teach math in the Philippines is very different than in the USA. All the juggling I do mentally, they are taught to do the long way, with almost no shortcuts. They work it out step by step, whereas we're taught tricks and shortcuts. I figure, as long as you can do the problem w/o a calculator or computer, the faster and more accurate way is best.

[Bob_S]

The problem with the meme is that it treats multiplication always before division or division always before multiplication.  You don't.  They are equal weight.  So you do whichever comes first.  Same with addition and subtraction.  Ergo, 48/2*2 = 48, not 12.