48÷2(9+3) = ?

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> And from all these posts - Vikas was incredibly successful in his intent...you guys seem to have lost sight of that intent..

I hope that was not a sarcastic remark because I was not the one who posted this topic but I did get completely involved. Saturday night I was on my laptop googling this (over 11 BILLIONS hits in less than 48 hours of this eruption!) instead of sleeping with my wife :-(

I am not joking about the 11 Billion number. I thought it was 11 million and I was already impressed but then I recounted the number of zeros. [About 11,370,000,000 results (0.12 seconds)]

Mind boggling!!
 
If you mean (48/2)*(9+3), then say so.

Or if you mean 48/(2*(9+12)), then say so.

33.gif
That's exactly what I said in my first post. Pay attention.

That doesn't mean there's no correct way to do it. The entire problen is that most people don't understand the rules, hence the confusion.

Welcome to the USA, the most innumerate civilized nation on Earth. (Innumerate: the mathematical version of illiterate.)
 
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Im not reading all 25 pages, but I would give answer A for a different reason than most simply because I was writing compilers whle most of you were in diapers.

anything other than 48/2*(9+3) is a syntax error*, and using the rules you would find in any K&R book, the answer is 288

Since we use context free grammar by neccessity- first pass evaluates the parens, then left to right.

Im dating myself now, but hey, we ruled the world - literally - in under 1Mb of memory. you cant post a pic of your used motor oil in less than 1Mb today.

now to explain the difference between big and little 'indians' ;-)

stuart hughes btw is right - say what you mean. dont rely on parsers and a correct application of yacc.

a lot of you can now see how software errors get introduced.


* = or worse yet a function call of the same name that uses a numerical input and returns a value...
 
Originally Posted By: Stuart Hughes
That doesn't mean there's no correct way to do it. The entire problen is that most people don't understand the rules, hence the confusion.

Welcome to the USA, the most innumerate civilized nation on Earth. (Innumerate: the mathematical version of illiterate.)


Well after all this I'm still not totally clear what the rule really is. Maybe I'm innumerate, but I tend to forget things after several years of not using them again. So is it the rule or not that, "multiplication by placement next to parentheses precedes regular multiplication and division from left to right."? I've been saying it is not the rule and I think we are in agreement but I'm still not totally sure
27.gif
.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
> And from all these posts - Vikas was incredibly successful in his intent...you guys seem to have lost sight of that intent..

I hope that was not a sarcastic remark because I was not the one who posted this topic but I did get completely involved. Saturday night I was on my laptop googling this (over 11 BILLIONS hits in less than 48 hours of this eruption!) instead of sleeping with my wife :-(

I am not joking about the 11 Billion number. I thought it was 11 million and I was already impressed but then I recounted the number of zeros. [About 11,370,000,000 results (0.12 seconds)]

Mind boggling!!


My apologies Vikas - I had thought it was you. I see now that the OP was D189379....it's clear that when I think of precision in mathematics...I think of you!
cheers3.gif


But I belive that I characterized the intent correctly...and this post came up with the controversial (and now dead) thread on centrifugal force and non-inertial reference frames...

I enjoy the debate...but I am clearly not as passionate about arithmetic as I am about Physics...
 
Funny you mention centrifugal forces; we need to start a new topic on in. I used to be able to solve the physics problems but it was still revelation when I took the MSF course and had to learn the counter-steer principle!

As I said before this topic went viral. It also brought out the personalities of the forums where it was discussed. Some shown their maturity but some have been nothing but name calling.

- Vikas
 
Physics, particularly Newtonian Mechanics, simplifies things to make the principles accessible beyond the math...but vehicles have complex dynamic interactions.

Had to explain at length on another blog why the contact patch of a tire was the same at a given inflation pressure regardless of the tire size and that a wider tire's patch had a different shape, but not a different size...and then why that worked better...

Uh oh...off topic and delving into the controversy again!
eek.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
As I said before this topic went viral. It also brought out the personalities of the forums where it was discussed. Some shown their maturity but some have been nothing but name calling.

- Vikas


I think this forum has shown well in this regard! I must say, it was fun to work the old noodle a bit...
lol.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: QuadDriver
Im not reading all 25 pages,


Neither am I...I'm only seeing 13


weird that eh? It has to do with how the page is formatted if you are logged in, or not, and if you are using IE8 in compatibility view - or not.

consistency. its whats for supper.
 
Originally Posted By: QuadDriver
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: QuadDriver
Im not reading all 25 pages,


Neither am I...I'm only seeing 13


weird that eh? It has to do with how the page is formatted if you are logged in, or not, and if you are using IE8 in compatibility view - or not.

consistency. its whats for supper.

When you go to your Preferences, you can set how many posts you want to see per page. Default is 15. I have mine set at 30 I believe.
 
Originally Posted By: Reelizmpro
I was curious...how do you 288 guys reciprocate 5(2+3)/8(1+2)?


If I read what you wrote the correct answer is:


1 / (5(2+3)/8(1=2))
 
Bunch of BITOGers have stranded on a deserted island. Now pay attention children :-)

We found a drum containing 48 gallon of diesel fuel. As the luck would have it, we had a nice shiny (:- Made In China though) Snap-On branded generator with us which is rated as consuming 2 gallon per hour fuel.

We decide to use the generator 3 hours during the day time and 9 hours during the night time (we need A/C, it is just too hot and humid to get a good night sleep without the A/C).

You guys with me so far?

Your math assignment:- How many days can we survive on that drum??

Recapping:-
48 gallons
2 gallon/hour
(9 + 3) hours/day

Equation:-
48÷2(9+3) = ? days

I desperately want the answer to be 288 because I *love* being on that island :-)

- Vikas
 
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