this post was submitted on 26 May 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 232 points 1 year ago (2 children)
 40-32/2
=40-16
=24
=4*3*2*1
=4!
[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 year ago

Ah shit. I almost hate this one more than loss.

[–] [email protected] 167 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

I hate how these things always come up because "order of operations!" It's mostly people who are bad at math remembering one topic they struggled with and finally got right, and now they know it's a touchy subject so it will drive engagement. It's the modern equivalent of "Mathematicians hate this one secret for solving equations! Click to find out!" Pure engagement bait.

But in all the engineering ive done, things never really come up like this. If there is any potential clarity issues, parentheses would be used, or it would be formatted in a way that makes it much more clear.

40 - (32/2), or 40 - ³²⁄₂ has no clarity issues imo. You don't even have to think about order of operations because 32 halves is a number on its own. it isn't an "operation" to do necessarily, it's a fraction to reduce.

And yes, I get the joke. The joke is making fun of the engagement bait of "some people will get the order of operations wrong!"

The joke(40 - 32)/2 = 4

If you stop here, you used the wrong order of operations. This is where the the fights normally start in the replies.

but the kid said "4!" not "4"

40 - (32/2) = 24 = 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 4!

[–] [email protected] 70 points 1 year ago (2 children)

s. If there is any potential clarity issues, parentheses would be used, or it would be formatted in a way that makes it much more clear.

It reminds me of a very old xkcd that posits "communicating badly and acting smug when you're misunderstood is not cleverness "

https://xkcd.com/169/

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I knew XKCD is based, but this is new level

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean, xkcd numbers its comics sequentially, and he's well into the 2000's now, so a 1xy comic is ancient. Looks like at times, old xkcd was brutal.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Especially hat guy.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's the same as "only 2% of people get this right! If you get it right you have a very strong brain!". It's just a little more devious about it.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Exactly. if only 2% of people get it, perhaps you’re just shitty at communicating.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It does leave ambiguity with it being an, apparent, quote/dialogue. Correct and Incorrect are both correct depending on your POV and how you interpret social media posts

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[–] [email protected] 93 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

40-32/2 _ 4!

40-16 _ 2×3×4

30-6 _ 2×12

24 = 24

Checks out.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Throw up some brackets, you rage-baiting motherfucker!

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No actually the trick to this one is that Four-Factorial equals 24

So 40 - 16 = 24

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This one's perfectly unambiguous without brackets, unlike the 1/2x stuff

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Don't need brackets due to BODMAS Division comes before subtraction

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's perfectly reasonable to read this as both (40-32)/2 and 40-(32/2) anywhere past basic math.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Even your "BODMAS" isn't universal, lots of people learn "PEMDAS" or "BEDMAS"

At any level of mathematics after elementary school, you never see terrible expressions like this. Well, except for facebook and twitter

Take for example: 2/2*2 It is 0.5 or 2 depending on order. But if I were anything after high school (I was more complacent in high school, I guess) if someone gave me an arbitrarily solved equation or expression like this, I would be livid and raise hell at them for trying to do that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The fundamentals are literally the same, and the difference is in the words people use for the same thing, brackets and parentheses are used in the same way and only changes how the acronym is spelled. Powers, indices and exponents are the same thing. Here's my version, PITDAT (parentheses, indices, times, divide, add, takeaway.)

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Depends if the kid said "four!" or "four factorial"

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

all maths must be said in a neutral tone lest you imply factorials

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Almost as if the joke relies on the fact that in written form those are the same.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s how I say factorial though I just yell

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

So Italians mathematicians put everything in factorial

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And that kids name? Mathew Matician.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The kid who got it wrong? Numbers McCountyFingers.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Intentionally writing equations shittily is a special type of brain rot.

40 - (32 / 2) = ?

Ftfy.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago

The cleverness is that it works either way

40-16=4!

8/2=4

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

But then there's no joke/trick.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

fun fact, ? = sqrt(-|x| / 0) for all real x

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I actually remember seeing this on my YouTube feed. I was pretty confused at first until I saw the factorial sign.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Where is the bell curve

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

it's wrong, because:

  • i would never ask a kid something like that
  • there is a question mark missing
  • i don't know any kids and they would probably just flip me off in that situation, which is okay, because they shouldn't talk to strangers
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Not related. I love your username

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Reject tradition, embrace crab

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Such a great post lmao

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

What enrages me is the pairing of "wrong" and "correct".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

With pemdas correct if written, incorrect if spoken. Ignoring pemdas the opposite. And verbally if the exclamation is not spoken as factorial

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

4 factorial is correct lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yee, I was in the midst of correcting myself since I was typing off my memory

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