How to solve the next viral maths question
There’s usually a lot of discussion on the Internet after the problems, with questions being asked about why people believe that even Google Calculator’s online calculator gets the wrong answer.
Is still baffled by some people. Here’s another:
It’s impossible, no matter how hard one tries, to resist this challenge. After you’ve answered the question, you look in the comments to see that some people have agreed with your answer and others have said something totally different.
Let me explain how to solve these online equations in the simplest way possible. In some cases, there could be more than one correct answer.
The language of mathematics
The English language is read left to right. The same approach to mathematical equations seems natural.
You wouldn’t read Arabic or Mandarin this way, nor would you try it with mathematics.
It is essential to be literate in maths that you understand the rules of “spelling” or “grammar” when it comes to mathematics.
A set of strict rules defines the correct arithmetical language called the order. These rules explain the right order to perform math operations, such as multiplication and addition when they appear together in an equation.
Students in Australia are taught the acronym BODMAS to help them remember how to order the numbers. The ‘Order,’ in BODMAS, refers to the mathematical powers, such as squared or cubed.
This is the same thing, even if it’s taught in other countries as BEDMAS or BEDMAS.
If, for example, we have a multiplication and addition equation, then we will always perform the multiplication before adding, regardless of how they are written.
Brackets make a big difference.
Here, brackets or parentheses can be very helpful in arithmetical punctuation. A well-placed English comma makes the difference between “Let us eat John” and “Let us eat John.”
In maths, a bracket placed correctly can change the outcome of our calculations. Frames give priority to one part of a mathematical equation. We always calculate inside the shelves before we deal with the outside.
We can create two new equations by adding brackets to the addition of equations (a), (b), and (c) above.
These equations no longer equal each other. The brackets in both cases tell us that we should add before multiplying. We have to multiply 3×6 (c) by four and 5×4 (d) by 4. Now we get different results: (c) is 18, and (d) is 20.
For equations (a), (b), and (c), the brackets are not required because BODMAS says that we must multiply before adding. Adding shelves to reinforce BODMAS rules will help avoid confusion.
More Rules
It is important to understand BODMAS in order to solve these problems. However, it’s also helpful to know the properties of mathematics, such as commutatives and associatives.
Commutative operations are those in which it doesn’t matter what order the numbers (operands) appear. Since a+b=b+a, addition is commutative.
Subtraction, however, is not commutative because a-b does not equal b-a. Multiplication and division are both commutative.
There are also distinctions in English. The same thing is true for ordering “vodka, orange juice, and vodka”; however, “shaken and not stirred” does not mean “stirred and not shaken.”
When we perform the same operation in multiple instances, it doesn’t matter what order we do them.