@ sergeant and tonyjv - there are tonnes of ways to do things in maths and with heaps of other things in life.

Yes, ROn, brackets do make all the difference :D

@ ene - for real?

6+2x10 is easy
but
I oftened wondered what 7+2x10 could be

You're kidding -- right ??? (27)

That's what I was thinking too. THat's why I was asking for clarification.

6+2x10 is easy
but
I oftened wondered what 7+2x10 could be

Very funny for someone from LA!
We could make that into one good movie to beat 'Dumb and Dimmer'.

>> OK, is this some trick? because I really don't get you.

No, it's not a trick. PEMDAS gives the wrong answer. What's not to get? According to "PEMDAS", you multiply before you divide and you add before you subtract. In order to get the RIGHT answer, you have to remember PE(MD)(AS). And you're still screwed if you have to do 2^3^4 (there's some Math BBCode that I don't know how to use. It's supposed to be a big 2, a superscripted 3 above the 2, then a superscripted 4 over the 3. 2^(3^4)). The point being you have to learn "PEMDAS", then the "left to right" add/substract and multiply/divide exceptions, then you have to learn the "right to left" exponents exception. You're screwed if your teachers are as mean as mine were and throw curveballs like these at you in Algebra.

What wrong is using priorities? Looks working quite well. Google's Go language have very neat and simple priority system. Of course there bunch of cases where priorities are really messed up like famous Pascal boolean operations.

I always managed quite well with three priorities like they teached here in Finland in my school time, don't know situation nowadays: highest exponentiation (including roots, but that is only other name of exponentiation), then multiply/divide, last plus/minus. Then you only need to be carefull with minus in front of ( ) and - - is + stuff.

26 is the answer as everyone knows. Operator precedence! you know?

Here in India we too have BODMAS:
B -- Bracket(Parenthesis)
O -- Of(kind of multiplication)
D -- Division
M -- Multiplication
A -- Addition
S -- Subtraction

BEDMAS

B-brackets
E-exponents
DM-multiply or divide (left to right)
AS-add subtract (left to right)

Right-to-left exponents exception, what are you speaking of?

>> OK, is this some trick? because I really don't get you.

No, it's not a trick. PEMDAS gives the wrong answer. What's not to get? According to "PEMDAS", you multiply before you divide and you add before you subtract. In order to get the RIGHT answer, you have to remember PE(MD)(AS). And you're still screwed if you have to do 2^3^4 (there's some Math BBCode that I don't know how to use. It's supposed to be a big 2, a superscripted 3 above the 2, then a superscripted 4 over the 3. 2^(3^4)). The point being you have to learn "PEMDAS", then the "left to right" add/substract and multiply/divide exceptions, then you have to learn the "right to left" exponents exception. You're screwed if your teachers are as mean as mine were and throw curveballs like these at you in Algebra.

So exponents are the same as indices or are they everything but brackets, multiplication, division, addition and subtraction?

What wrong is using priorities? Looks working quite well. Google's Go language have very neat and simple priority system. Of course there bunch of cases where priorities are really messed up like famous Pascal boolean operations.

I always managed quite well with three priorities like they teached here in Finland in my school time, don't know situation nowadays: highest exponentiation (including roots, but that is only other name of exponentiation), then multiply/divide, last plus/minus. Then you only need to be carefull with minus in front of ( ) and - - is + stuff.

@ NETprogrammer - Yes, we all agree ... that is correct ^_^ :D

@ ilovec++ - Division first? What is this? I decided to edit the question to 6+2x10/2 and I still got the same answer using this method.

Does anyone know of any exception to using BODMAS?

I think I was taught BODMAS by a friend long before I learnt BIMDAS and that screwed me up until I learnt BIMDAS.

Fixed: Lr->P(E<-Rl)(M|D)(A|S)

Left to right
Parenthesis
Exponents right to left
Multiply or Divide
Add or Subtract

commented: Perfect! +0

@Azmah
Yup BODMAS does work.
You see, according to it, in 6+2x10, you first multiply 2 and 10 and get 20, then add 6 and get 26, which is the correct answer.
By the way, we're also taught BODMAS in school.

commented: hilarious sig! +0

Yea, that's something that has stuck with me forever.

Isn't it called the "Order of Operations" ? Or rather, in a programming language, operator precedence.

hmmm 6+2x10?
its simply like this 6+(2x10)= 6+20=26 this is the answer

Wow, are there any other ways. This shows that there are numerous ways to do things in maths - and its not just maths. Does anyone have any other maths question that s trick like mine?

THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU

Every single time I ask someone that question I get 80 ... they forget BIMDAS. I put the hit because I didn't want to sound like a fool :)

One of my friends said to me, after I told him, "Tell me when you sue BIMDAS in you line of work", I thought that was a funny way to back yourself up :D

Its the first time I've asked online and it was the correct answer ^_^

Can't remember 'BIDMAS' if at all i know it. All i know is 'BODMAS'

Can't remember 'BIDMAS' if at all i know it. All i know is 'BODMAS' [and the others]

Never hear of any of them. The only acronyms I remember is "Every Good Boy Does Fine" and "FACE". They are very mathematical, too.

By the way, it's math, not maths.

By the way, it's math, not maths.

NO it is not.

By the way, it's math, not maths.

Depends on where you live. Here is another discussion about that.

Depends on where you live. Here is another discussion about that.

Yeah, it really depends on where you live but the universal thing is maths because in full its written MATHEMATICS and not MATHEMATIC

Can you please explain exponents?

Yes, hawke777, it does stick with you forever?

Yeah, its probably Order of Operations. But why would you need to remember it in programming - The developer(s)who made it would need it; unless you want to know the term Oder Of Precedence for interests sake.

Correct, steven300. Its nice how you presented it logically - Its really helpful for those that want to learn. You could be a teacher ... if you aren't already. Someone doesn't need to be qualified to be a teacher, you know. :P

I was always taught BODMAS/BIDMAS:

(B)rackets
powers (O)f/(I)ndices
(D)ivision
(M)ultiplication
(A)ddition
(S)ubtraction

In some countries, replacing "Brackets" with "Parentheses" would be the case making it PODMAS/PIDMAS but I've never hear of PEMDAS. I'm assuming the "E" is representing another word for powers of or indices but why is the M and D switched?

The only time I was taught to do multiplication before division was when the sum was written as a fraction:

2x2
---
2

Rather than inline:

2x2/2

Using BIDMAS, it would make the answer to the first, 2 and the answer to the second, 1.

Why in the world are there 5 pages in this thread?

Member Avatar for diafol

2x2
---
2
Rather than inline:
2x2/2

Using BIDMAS, it would make the answer to the first, 2 and the answer to the second, 1.

Does it really? 4/2 = 2, 2 X 1 = 2. It's the same for me on my planet.

We learn CORLAT which translates as Parenetheses|Brackets, Indicies|Powers|Orders|Exponents, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction. But Div,Mult can be swapped as can Add,Sub.

I think the BIDMAS,BODMAS,PEDANT is a smokescreen. Unless you look at the second operator (indicies), there's very little that can go wrong.

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