Petah?
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2025
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I love how the comments perfectly illustrate the point of the picture.
Redditors hate math
its intentionally ambiguous and is engagement bait
the discourse lies in whether 8/2(2+2) is to be treated with PEMDAS as
[(8/2)(2+2)] which results in 16, or if you believe implied multiplication takes precedence as (8)/(2(2+2)) resulting in 1
the actual solution is to rewrite the question to be less ambiguous instead of arguing over bait
(i personally believe its 1 as i have been taught to consider expressions like a(b+c) as a single unit instead of one multiplied with the other, (a)(b+c) is what i consider the latter to be, still this type of shit is ASS)
guy who hates these types of expressions specifically out
edit: apparently there are still people trying to affirm one over the other while replying to this comment
of the 2 justifiable answers to this, there are still people picking the secret third option of picking one and deeming the other false, actual hook line and sinker
*”When dividing the values of quantities using a solidus, brackets are used to avoid ambiguity.”*
*”(a/b)/c, not a/b/c”*
The International System of Units [(SI) brochure](https://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure/), as defined by BIPM, 5.4.6
It’s ambiguous.
this is just bad written. It needs context to work. Math shouldn’t be numbers floating around. The idea is to be ambiguous. The answer can be both 16 or 1, if the (2+2) is on the numerator or denominator. Mainly, we would interpret it as (8/2)(2+2), but 8/(2[2+2]) is reasonable to think.
Lots of people have a problem doing simple maths questions, like this one. Most prefer not to answer, because of the fear of looking like stupid.
The answer should be 16…
Edit: didn’t think I would start a war in the comments, so here I go: using PEMDAS…
8/2(2+2)
8/2(4)
M/D have the same level (same as A/S), so we start solving left-to-right:
8/2(4)
4(4)
=16…
Edit 2:
OK, guys, I get it. I DON’T CARE IF YOU GOT YOUR ANSWER RIGHT OR WRONG, CAUSE YOU CAN READ THIS QUESTION HOWEVER YOU WANT, USE WHATEVER METHOD YOU WANT AND GET EVERY POSSIBLE ANSWER YOU WANT. It is digressing from the topic. What matters in this case is explaining the joke, not the question…
Poorly written equations will get confusion.
8/2(4) should be written 4*8/2 or (8/2)*4 to avoid these issues.
When in doubt use more parenthesis.
42
It’s ambiguous. I come from a background of high level math, so I write it like 8/(2 * (2+2))=1, since that’s how my teachers taught me. But I also understand it can be written as (8/2) * (2+2)=16. Both are correct, but it always sparks a debate.
Guys I’m going to burger King anyone want something
The question is constructed without enough brackets. This was done with the intention of sparking screaming matches in the comments.
Some will interpret the question as (8/2)(2(2+2)) which is equal to sixteen.
Others will interpret it as 8/(2(2+2)) which is 1
I’d say either one is right as the dickhead who made this only wanted to see me argue with someone else over the right answer.
Don’t worry guys, I know this problem. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 7?
The answer is ambiguous between 16 and 1, depending on if you multiply first or divide first. People on Reddit are very likely to get attached to one answer and claim anyone who says the other answer is stupid and/or wrong.
This is known as an “Ambiguous Expression,” which is likely the reason that high level math refuses to acknowledge the existence of subtraction and division. (They become adding negative numbers and multiplying by inverses.)
Multiplication and division both have identical priority, and there is no objectively correct answer for whether you solve left to right or right to left.
Redditors are obsessed with BODMAS but will love to ignore Brackets because they’ve been collectivised to believe BODMAS trick questions without brackets ofcourse
I hate a lot of you
Redditors suck at PEMDAS
The non-commutative property and its consequences.
Bian’s dogpark friend Scruffles here. These are ragebait questions designed to farm comments. The question is written as ambiguously as possible so people will get hard-ons screaming about the PDMAS they learned about in school and feel like they have the secret-knowledge to be able to solve these questions. Any math question being honestly written will never be as confusing.
Scruffles out.
Redditors sick of endless BODMAS posts
It’s a poorly written math problem that causes lots of arguments online.
It’s either 16 or 1 depending on what the / is doing.
This and other equations like it are shit, this is not just reddit, but anyone who has actually seen on of these shit equations before and they do also pop up on twitter occasionally.
It is engagement bait because it is intentionally made to be confusing, because the answer is that both 8/2* (2+2) and 8/(2* (2+2)) are valid interpretations of how this should be resolved so people debate which interpretation is correct to bait engagement.
The only real answer is that these math questions are shit and should fuck off which honestly should include this post because there’s a chance it is also engagement bait.
8/2(2+2)
Parentheses
8/2(4)
Then multiplication and division starting from left to right so we actually divide first
4(4)
Then multiply
16
PEMDAS
A problem like this stems from a person trying to bait engagement because it’s poorly written and can be interpreted in two separate ways:
1: ⁸⁄₍₂₍₂₊₂₎₎ = 8/(2(4)) = 8/8 = 1
2: ⁸⁄₂ * (2+2) = ⁸⁄₂ * 4 = 4 * 4 = 16
Both interpretations are technically correct, but the original suffers from being poorly written and purposefully obtuse to confuse Redditors.
Edit: To avoid the potential PEMDAS comment, instead of solving ⁸⁄₂ first do this:
⁸⁄₂ * ⁴⁄₁ = ³²⁄₂ = 16
As you need to multiply first, then divide, my b.
Redditors hate the number 16
My god this comment section is trash. We’ve become what we hate the most.
It’s a poorly written problem, that’s the issue. Order of operations is simple, but when it’s deliberately designed to be confusing then of course it would be confusing
This is why I hate the divide sign, just write it as a numerator and denominator
I remember having a debate about this on YouTube (it was dumb as shit).
You solve the parentheses first, then end up with 8/2*4.
Some people get confused and first multiply the 2 by 4, which would give 8, and then solve it as 8/8=1 (which is incorrect).
The correct way is to first solve the parentheses, then rewrite it as 2*4, then solve from left to right, due to the presence of division. You would end up with 16.
The reason some people get it wrong is that they incorrectly envision a fraction with 8 being the numerator and 2(2+2) being the denominator. But for that to work, it would’ve needed to have been written as 8/(2(2+2)), with an extra set of parentheses around it.
EDIT: this thread is absolutely insane, lol. This is that YouTube thread all over again. It doesn’t matter what any of you say, the answer is 16. It will always be 16. If you imply that it’s anything else, you need to open Google, and conduct proper research on the topic. Because I have.
16
bro the DOG on the right looks a lot like mine
You can see the problem with the question starting in the comments already…
The main issue is the symbols ÷ and / are not the same thing and imply different things. Lets take the question in the op and go over each symbol. However, there is another issue and that’s the difference in how PEMDAS is taught.
In my area, PEMDAS is taught like PE(MD)(AS) Where you do the MD and the AS at equal priority.
8÷2(2+2)
8÷2(4)
4(4)
16
However, some people are taught PEMDAS is always done in order. So for them it would be
8÷2(2+2)
8÷2(4)
8÷(8)
1
8/2(2+2) however is a different equation from the former two examples. The / Implies a fraction therefore the top and bottom are implied to be in parenthesis. Thus you would solve it the following way.
8/2(2+2)
(8)/(2(2+2))
(8)/(2(4))
(8)/(8)
1
When you see these types of questions floating around the internet they’re intentional rage bait aimed to get people arguing over the correct way to do it when in reality it doesn’t matter. It’s just a shittily formatted math problem.
Not this again. This is why I left Facebook