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This question may seem easy, but many people get it wrong!

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Neonhusky
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14 Jun 2013, 11:50 pm

Answer this:

2+2/2

This is read as: two plus two divided by two


Lets see who gets it right :D

EDIT: when I wrote the scentence, I was trying to show how to read it, not another question XD



Last edited by Neonhusky on 15 Jun 2013, 10:54 am, edited 2 times in total.

Who_Am_I
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14 Jun 2013, 11:54 pm

3.


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yellowtamarin
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15 Jun 2013, 12:18 am

I'd answer "3" to the first one, and "2" to the second one. The first one should conform to the rules of arithmetic. But the second one, being a sentence, well I'd probably solve it in the order presented in the sentence.



eric76
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15 Jun 2013, 12:29 am

10. (I did it in base 3 arithmetic)



CornerPuzzlePieces
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15 Jun 2013, 2:23 am

eric76 wrote:
10. (I did it in base 3 arithmetic)


That's cheating! :P



naturalplastic
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15 Jun 2013, 6:13 am

yellowtamarin wrote:
I'd answer "3" to the first one, and "2" to the second one. The first one should conform to the rules of arithmetic. But the second one, being a sentence, well I'd probably solve it in the order presented in the sentence.


This.

The equation, and the sentence, are saying two different things.

The equation is saying "take two and add to it the result of dividing two by two.

The sentence said "two plus two divided by two".



physicsnut42
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15 Jun 2013, 6:18 am

CornerPuzzlePieces wrote:
eric76 wrote:
10. (I did it in base 3 arithmetic)


That's cheating! :P


Why? There's nothing wrong with different number bases and because they were 2s, the only banned number base would be binary (the problem could not have been in binary). In addition, anyone solving the problem so far could have been using base 4, 5, 6, 7, 24, 269, 47... because you wouldn't go over the base number with a three. eric76 was just the first person to use base-3.

By the way, just for kicks, the answer is 3, and I did that in base-42 (quadragesobinary?).


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ruveyn
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15 Jun 2013, 8:03 am

Neonhusky wrote:
Answer this:

2+2/2

Two plus 2 divided by 2


Lets see who gets it right :D


Put in parenthesis to resolve the ambiguity. Do you mean 2 + (2/2) which equals 3 or (2 + 2)/2 which equals 2?



b9
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15 Jun 2013, 8:19 am

ruveyn wrote:
Neonhusky wrote:
Answer this:

2+2/2

Two plus 2 divided by 2


Lets see who gets it right :D


Put in parenthesis to resolve the ambiguity. Do you mean 2 + (2/2) which equals 3 or (2 + 2)/2 which equals 2?


there is no ambiguity if one understands the simple rules of arithmetic hierarchy of operations.



physicsnut42
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15 Jun 2013, 8:38 am

Yes, but the hierarchy isn't based on actual math, just a way to (sadly) teach elementary school students and (not-so-sadly) computers.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9h1oqv21Vs[/youtube]


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TallyMan
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15 Jun 2013, 9:48 am

Back in my student days when I bought a new calculator, I'd always buy one that gave the answer 7 rather than 9 to the operation: 1 + 2 * 3 =


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GGPViper
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15 Jun 2013, 10:44 am

Depends. Are you buying or selling?



Fnord
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15 Jun 2013, 2:28 pm

2+2/2=3

Quote:
Sequence of Operations

By convention, formulas are evaluated in the following sequence:

1. Exponentiation.
2. Multiplication and Division.
3. Addition and Subtraction
4. In the case of operations of the same level of precedence, evaluation proceeds from left to right.

Source: Math 1010 On-Line



Dhp
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15 Jun 2013, 9:02 pm

Most would get this wrong? Are they...never mind. I would rant for paragraph after paragraph to that a few years ago. The answer is obviously 3. The second sentence is ambiguous at first, but after translating that into a sequence of numbers and signs, it is 3. One would say "The quantity of two plus two then divided by 2" to make that answer 2.



ruveyn
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15 Jun 2013, 9:48 pm

b9 wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
Neonhusky wrote:
Answer this:

2+2/2

Two plus 2 divided by 2


Lets see who gets it right :D


Put in parenthesis to resolve the ambiguity. Do you mean 2 + (2/2) which equals 3 or (2 + 2)/2 which equals 2?


there is no ambiguity if one understands the simple rules of arithmetic hierarchy of operations.


/ and X bind closer than + so the answer is 3 (assuming everything is base 10)