6÷2(1+2)=???

Pesala

What is the right answer?

TbGbe · Win: Snapshot Vivaldi 6.3.3134.3

@Pesala Don't use obelus in formulae?

sgunhouse

@Pesala The question is whether implicit multiplication (writing a number directly in front of a parenthesis, variable or function) has a higher priority than division. I own several calculators which are designed with different hierarchies of operations. Depending on which one I grab, the answer will be either 1 or 9. As a mathematician I'd prefer the first answer, but there is no official rule.

Pesala

I went for 9, just calculating from left to right, but 1 is also right.

sgunhouse

@Pesala This question came up in Slashdot some time ago after someone posted it in Reddit and it started a war there.

My Casio scientific calculators (non-scientific calculators lack parentheses) answer with 1, and the fanciest of them even rewrites the question as 6÷(2(1+2)) just to make it obvious. My TI calculators answer 9. My HP calculators don't support implicit multiplication (that's a non-RPN HP as RPN doesn't have parentheses). My only Sharp calculator agrees with the Casios..

Pesala

@sgunhouse said in 6÷2(1+2)=???:

someone posted it in Reddit and it started a war there.

Wars frequently start over different views. That is why I thought it worth posting the question — to see if anyone was attached to their view.

Prejudice is extremely disabling, but hard to escape from entirely. I never even thought of the alternative anagram for those six little letters, until watching the video back later.