{"id":33013,"date":"2023-09-04T17:30:57","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T17:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/questions\/write-a-similar-math-problem-that-uses-misleading-spacing-and-inclusion-or-exclusion-of-the-multiplication-symbol-to-trick-people-into-an-answer-that-is-wrong-following-the-order-of-operations-do-not\/"},"modified":"2023-09-04T17:30:57","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T17:30:57","slug":"write-a-similar-math-problem-that-uses-misleading-spacing-and-inclusion-or-exclusion-of-the-multiplication-symbol-to-trick-people-into-an-answer-that-is-wrong-following-the-order-of-operations-do-not","status":"publish","type":"questions","link":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/questions\/write-a-similar-math-problem-that-uses-misleading-spacing-and-inclusion-or-exclusion-of-the-multiplication-symbol-to-trick-people-into-an-answer-that-is-wrong-following-the-order-of-operations-do-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Write a similar math problem that uses misleading spacing and inclusion or exclusion of the multiplication symbol to trick people into an answer that is wrong following the order of operations. Do not provide the answer in your post"},"content":{"rendered":"

Discussion Questions <\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

You may have seen a <\/span>viral image online<\/span>Links to an external site.<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/span>of a math problem where many people couldn\u2019t agree on an answer:
8 \u00f7 2(2 + 2) = ?
Some think the answer is 16, while others think the answer is 1.<\/p>\n

The question is misleading due to the implicit multiplication and lack of spacing; a more explicit version of the same question is:
8 \u00f7 2 \u00d7 (2 + 2) = ?<\/p>\n

However, no matter how it\u2019s written, the order of operations (PEMDAS) gives us an unambiguous way to interpret it:<\/p>\n

Parentheses are evaluated first.
Exponents are evaluated next.
Multiplication and division are evaluated left-to-right.
Addition and subtraction are evaluated left-to-right.
This gives us an answer of 16.<\/p>\n

In your initial post, answer the following questions.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n