Anne Mikolay

For your betterment (frustration or entertainment), I nowadays the viral math equation:  6 ÷ two ( 1 + ii). Have at information technology; I'll wait.

Exercise you have your respond? Bear in listen that nothing is every bit simple as it seems.

The answer is 1…or 9…depending upon how you expect at things.

Permit me to explain.

Harken back to math class and review the BODMAS rule. BODMAS is an acronym for Bracket, Society, Division, Multiplication, Addition, and Subtraction. Co-ordinate to BODMAS:

six÷2(i+two)

half-dozen÷2(three)

2×3 =6

6÷six=1

Respond: 1

All the same, according to the gimmicky version of the gild of operations, the answer is different.

(1+2), of course, is 3. The equation then becomes 6÷ii(three). Here's where the modernistic interpretation of BODMAS kicks in. (3) implies the value 2×3, which is half dozen. The equation is then 6÷2×3. According to the modern BODMAS, multiplication does not come before division; they have the same precedence. Thus, working left to correct, 6÷2 is 3, and 3×3 is 9. Thus, the answer is ix.

Look a minute! Concord your horses! The answer is 1, and the reply is 9. That tin can't be…at to the lowest degree not where I come from!

Admittedly, I am not a mathematician and don't intendance much if the answer is one or nine. Withal, that there can be two right answers to a math equation shatters what I have known to be true. Stick with me on this.

Merriam-Webster defines math as: "The scientific discipline of numbers and their operations, interrelations, combinations, generalizations, and abstractions, and of space configurations and their structure, measurement, transformation, and generalizations. Algebra, arithmetics, calculus, geometry and trigonometry are branches of math."

Translation: Math is math, a sort of unchangeable truth. If you suffered through Cosmic school, yous know one thing is certain: at that place is only one reply to an equation. You lot either get information technology correct or yous get information technology wrong. In that location is no varied interpretation of the rules. There is no credit for process, no room for interpretation. Showing your piece of work, justifying your answer, will not change the issue (believe me, back then, I tried). In math, at that place is only one correct answer. You either know it or you don't. You laissez passer or you lot neglect.

And at present I find out the Sisters of Divine Charity were wrong. There tin exist more than one reply to a mathematical equation. The rules, and thus the answers, can change with the times. Your answer to an equation tin can be right depending upon how you lot translate the rules. Applying this logic to our viral equation, if you're old-school, the respond is ane. If yous're not, the answer is 9. What expert, then, are the rules? Rules subject to interpretation lead to anarchy…and weird viral math equations with debatable answers.

I don't like math, never did, but I take ever respected the fact that at that place was truth in numbers. I could rely on the answers. If I concur 2 five dollar bills in my hand, I know I have 10 dollars, non two dollars because I've applied some wacky interpretation of the ii bills in manus. I suppose you could argue math is science, and as science evolves with new discoveries and new means of thinking, so, likewise, does the mathematical procedure, Yep, you could argue that signal, but I don't purchase it. Math is not fluid. Math is concrete, solid evidence of what is. Math is not alternative thinking or alternative facts. (We all know what happens when culling facts are presented.) Math is steady, reliable, unchanging. Am I right?

So, then, riddle me this: what is your respond to  six ÷ 2 ( one + ii )?


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Anne Mikolay

Anne M. Mikolay joined The Atlantic Highlands Herald as a columnist in 2008. Prior to penning "The Armchair Critic," Anne wrote characteristic articles for The Monmouth Journal. Her work has appeared in national... More by Anne Mikolay