maths question

[Booldawg]

saw this on FB and people had various answers;

6-1x0+2/2= ?

Most people answered '1' but I made it '5'!

[sunny-dave]

BIDMAS - the answer is 7

[ChuckFickens]

7

[ChuckFickens]

6-(1*0)+(2/2)=7

[hippyhoppy]

I saw this too and got 1.... 6-1=5, 5x0=0, 0+2=2, 2/2=1.. ergo 1 is the answer...

[grumpy01]

Anything X 0 is O.Therefore 6-1 =5x0=0 +2/2 =1

[ChuckFickens]

http://www.bidmas.com/

[Booldawg]

noticed you'd been on the question on FB Chuck!

not sure what this bidmas thing is all about - will educate myself on another quiet day at work! I like numbers but theres too many of them...

[sunny-dave]

Conventinal arithmetic doesn't just work from left to right.

There is an order in which operators are applied :

Brackets
Indices
Divide
Multiply
Add
Subtract

BIDMAS for short.

Apply this (correct) rule and you get the answer 7 as given by me & explained by Chuck.

< sigh - and I promised myself I'd never, ever get into one of these daft arguments again>

[sunny-dave]

Conventional !

[grumpy01]

Where are the brackets?

[sunny-dave]

There aren't any - so each operator only applies to the two immediately surrounding numbers - chuck has added virtual brackets for clarity - just do each step in the correct order.

[hippyhoppy]

well that's a tad misleading then.. as there ARE no brackets in the original dilemma.. thencefore working it out logically from left to right.. answer 1... none of this ficticious bidmas malarkey....!

[grumpy01]

If you do the sum in the way Chuck has written it then 7 is indeed the correct answer but if you do the sum in the way Bd asked the original question then the answer is surely 1.

[sunny-dave]

It may be logical to just work from left to right (in fact I agree entirely that it is) - but arithmetic conventions over many centuries say that you evaluate in a pecking order of the operators.

Daft question - designed to cause confusion and argument ... (not aimed at Booldawg, but at the original deviser of the sum)

[yogi-bear]

Hi Booldawg,

I would do it as follows, the way you've spelled it out not counting on Bidmas or Midas or Tiswas ...:

6-1 = 5

5x0 = 0

0+2 = 2

2/2 is 1

Answer is 1

My brain hurts now so I'm away to work, where I can play some relaxing tunes ( my golden hour later today includes Adam And The Ants, The Clash and Spandau Ballet, so maybe not eh? )

[albaqwerty]

my head hurts.
I get 1 too, but I'll bow those in the know.

[ChuckFickens]

Even if the brackets aren't there you still add them in according to the rules. to not do so is a bit like saying CAT doesn't spell cat because I've not explicitly said to read it left to right.... just like everyone knows to follow the rule of reading left to right in English without it having to be said every time there are rules to follow when doing calculations that don't have to be said every time.

[dannyk13]

If division or multiplication takes precedence then 6-1x0 becomes 6-0 =6 + 2/2 = 7

[sunny-dave]

So to explain (remember each operator only applies to the immediately surrounding two numbers) :

6-1x0+2/2

No Brackets
No Indices

So do the Divide which makes the expression 6-1x0+1

Then do the Multiply which gives 6-0+1

Then Do the Add and Subtract which gives the answer as 7

[hippyhoppy]

Right.. well, with a rather respectable C grade in O level maths.. this twenty-something young lady gives up and goes to work... ;-) xx