The reason why there’s a lack of consensus regarding this equation is a fairly simple one. Different people are using different rules about what order everything should be calculated in. Whether, after adding 2 and 2 together in the brackets, you should divide 8 by 2 first or multiply what’s in the brackets by 2, instead. This sounds like a basic disagreement, but people got very heated over this.
It simple examle, in math there are much more undefined example like matrices, which one you use row-oriented or column-oriented matrix by subscription they looks indentical it can be ether row oriented or column oriented:
|2 4 3|
|6 7 8|
|9 8 2|
Same about ∙ it can be scalar multiplication or dot product in geometry.
Good math article always define operation subscription before writing formula.
(8÷2)(2+2)
... which it appears that some calculators are doing.
Work backwards to find out what the correct answer is:
8÷2(2+2)= ?
8= ? x 2(2+2)
You cannot bring over the 8÷2 because it is not bracketed.
and so 16 x 2(2+2) is obviously not 8.
The answer is 1.
8/2*(2+2) = 8/2*4 = 16
1 is the result of another question, not written in the story:
8/(2*(2+2)) = 8/(2*4) = 8/8 = 1
The second two brackets make the difference.
At first i was one of the result-is-1-idiots. While i read the story, i got my mathematical intelligence back.