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48÷2(9+3)=

Actually, you could argue a third answer of 48/2(9+3) = 8.7

If the 48 was to be divided by everything else then there should be another set of brackets around the 2 and the very end. Therefore, it could only be applied to the first term.

Using BODMAS, brackets first you get 48/18+6
Then 48/18= 2.7 and plus the 6 gets 8.7

...just saying ;)
 
You know what, these were partially amusing at first, but would people bloody stop doing them on Facebook...

I don't want to see Maths again till September... And even then I want relevant Maths, not bollocks Maths...
 
Mysterious Sue said:
Actually, you could argue a third answer of 48/2(9+3) = 8.7

If the 48 was to be divided by everything else then there should be another set of brackets around the 2 and the very end. Therefore, it could only be applied to the first term.

Using BODMAS, brackets first you get 48/18+6
Then 48/18= 2.7 and plus the 6 gets 8.7

...just saying ;)
Click to expand...

Nope, sorry. Brackets first means that you do your big set of brackets but you also do the smaller set of brackets first giving 48/2(12). That is one of the few parts of this question that is not ambiguous.

Interesting aside, you'd think a decent university would avoid doing ambiguous stuff like this in their exams, but in one of my past papers, somebody stuffed in an expression that could be interpreted in a couple of different ways*. Apparently people were not impressed who sat that exam.


* (maths-haters can look away) If you really wanted to know, it was v=2e{sin αx/αLcos (αL/ 2) - x/L}. Written out all on one line, you know, because that's the sensible way to write out something that complex.
 
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