• Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 days ago

    Presuming PEMDAS is our order of operations and the 5 next to the parentheses indicates multiplication…

    2+5(8-5) -> 2+5(3) -> 2+15=17

    Other than adding a multiplication indicator next to the left parentheses for clarification (I believe it’s * for programming and text chat purposes, a miniature “x” or dot for pen and paper/traditional calculators), this seems fine, yeah.

    …I worry about how many people may not understand how to solve equations like these.

    • ftbd@feddit.org
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      1 day ago

      That’s not even an equation, just basic arithmetic

      • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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        2 days ago

        Technically not algebra, right? Algebra is where you move things around and solve for variables, and that kind of thing. This is just arithmetic.

      • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 days ago

        Fair enough, I’ve heard “math problem” and “math equation” used interchangeably.

        Also you would be surprised how many people do not know basic algebra, at least in the US rofl

        • upandatom@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          You. You are one of them bc you do not know what an equation is.

          There is no algebra here. This is arithmetic.

          • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 day ago

            When I made my example, I used an algebraic expression, but yeah, the original question was arithmetic, sorry. Not very good at explaining things XD

    • Alaknár@sopuli.xyz
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      2 days ago

      Multiplication sign is not required in situations like this. Same with unknowns - you don’t have to write 2*x, you just write 2x.

    • TheRedSpade@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      While I never failed a math class, I also never went past high school. When would your presumptions NOT be true?

      • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 days ago

        Some forms of programming syntax, although there are the fringe cases where an equation (or function in programming) is represented by a symbol in conjunction with a parentheses input.

        For example:

        y(x) = 2*x+3

        5+y(1) = 10, as 1 is substituted in for x in the prior equation.

        • TheBlackLounge@lemmy.zip
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          2 days ago

          And in some languages a number can be used as a name of a variable or a function, so it can be anything really

          • MotoAsh@piefed.social
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            1 day ago

            Not in most programming languages, though. You cannot start names with a number. Unless you’re using some strange character that merely looks like a number, anyways. Programming with unicode can get weird but generally works without issue these days.

        • moriquende@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Wouldn’t we just assume function expressions are always “in parenthesis”? Then it’s just a substitution and no rules were changed.

    • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I prefer BM-DAS, no one’s out here doing exponents, and no one calls brackets “parentheses”…

      • cobysev@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        The way I was taught growing up, brackets are [these]. Parenthesis are (these).

        Yes, technically the latter are also brackets. But they can also be called parenthesis, whereas the former is exclusively a bracket. So we were taught to call them separate words to differentiate while doing equations.

        • Droggelbecher@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          I’m a theoretical physics grad student and a night school maths teacher, I have never heard this distinction. People in academia around me call them round and square brackets.

          • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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            2 days ago

            It’s a US vs UK (and probably others) distinction. The ( ) are almost never called brackets in the US, unless it’s a regional thing I’m not aware of. Also the [ ] didn’t get used in any math classes I was in the US up through calculus except for matrices.

            • Droggelbecher@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              Interesting! Nobody at my institute is a native English speaker. They’re from several European and some Asian and south American countries.

        • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Yeah, but as an adult it depends entirely on whether you’re in an industry or hobby that requires that level of bracket nuance/exponents.

          Most of us are just trying to remember the basics.

      • Deebster@infosec.pub
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        2 days ago

        I learnt it as BODMAS (brackets, orders, division and multiplication, addition and subtraction).

        Edit: I see we’re repeating points from the earlier posts down there 👇 (with default sort).