maths problem

[rsvp]

have just seen this and would welcome thoughts from greater brains than mine!
4x4+4x4+4-4x4 = ?.......I got20 but has been a long time since I was at school.
My reasoning is .....
(4x4)+(4x4) = 32
32+4= 36
- (4x4) 16 therefore answer is 36-16 =20

Very happy to be proven wrong but would love to know why!!! thank you

[B00]

Im painfully aware i failed miserably at math in school, and in fact still struggle with it now, but can someone explain in plain english (now that I did understand!) why you're all putting brackets in the equation when there's none in the question?

[mike11111]

(4*4)+(4*4)+4-(4*4)=20

Of course, if you tweak the brackets and write (4*4)+(4*4)+(4-4)*4 then the answer is 32.

[ChuckFickens]

Standard maths rules, B00.

In the absence of brackets you assume it's in the following order...

Indicies
Division
Multiplication
Addition
Subtraction

[joeluke]

^'Joe apparently failed maths then. it's (obviously, as has been stated)

(4*4)+(4*4)+4-(4*4)=20'



4x4+4x4+4-4x4 = ?.......Can't see any brackets in the OP can you?

[jackthehat]

The multiplication takes precedence if no brackets are present.

(no wonder our tax bills are such a mess............where did you used to work, JL?) Lol

[mike11111]

In the absence of brackets mathematical operations must be performed according to a strict set of rules.

[MarkRae]

> My answer is correct, there are no brackets

Your answer is incorrect precisely because there are no brackets! If there were, the calculation would be done differently.


> How can the answer be 20 when the brackets could be anywhere in the sum?

Because there are no brackets anywhere in the sum.

[rsvp]

foa of Mike11111 - wasn't there a Monty Python sketch which went along the lines of what you've just posted re wolley mammoths? The four Yorkshire men I think it was called

[Prudie]

because you have to follow that BODMAS order B00, so multiplications first
16 + 16 + 4 - 16

[ABerrant]

BIDMAS (BODMAS as it was once known) does not need supposition or the insertion of 'missing' brackets.

Mathematical order of operation was discussed here...

http://www.theanswerb.../Question1099022.html

[MarkRae]

Has no-one else dropped this calculation into a spreadsheet? It's obviously 20.

[factor-fiction]

Everyone, except for joe, agrees with you, Mark.

[MarkRae]

Nothing new there, then!

[B00]

Im not saying you're wrong either, I just don't geddit- sorry, despite your brilliant replies.

I hated maths at school, and thanks to this question, I now remember why, lol.

[MarkRae]

What don't you get, BOO?

There is a system of rules which is used to work out the priority in which various mathematical operations are carried out. There's no more to it than that...

[mike11111]

Mark is going to hate me for this, but the OP isn't a "sum" but a complex mathematical operation.

[Prudie]

Hmmmm when I was little we called all maths 'sums'

[MarkRae]

A "complex mathematical operation", eh?

[mike11111]

Precisely, Prudie! We are more enlightened in this day and age.

[joeluke]

I still say it's 320