48÷2(9+3) = ???

[blackhawkimpact]

^This

[Cabriolet]

oder of operation state you do what's inside the parentheses then multiply then divide.
48 / 2(9 + 3) == 48 / 2(12) == 48/24 == 2.
* note oder of operation always comes before left to right.

[b*saint]

Its 2.

[devon.818]

haha i feel smart!
math was always my strong point...my friends thought it was weird i took calc. for fun.

[Axxe]

Too vague. Both could be right.

[harm]

how is anybody getting 288 out of this?


I'll admit to being wrong about the airplane/treadmill scenario at first but it was 3:00 AM and I had been drinking when I was introduced to it.

[tjts1]

It matters because when you rewrite the equation it comes out like this:

48
2(9+3)

aka

48
24

You fail
48
2(9+3) = 48÷(2(9+3)) not equal to 48÷2(9+3)

The standard order of operations, or precedence, is expressed in the following chart.
terms inside brackets
exponents and roots
multiplication and division
addition and subtraction
multiply and divide in the order the operations occur

[Raxe]

48
2(9+3) = 48/(2(9+3)) not equal to 48÷2(9+3)

You fail

How do you suggest it's properly written then? "÷" and "/" are the same thing, and correctly written out 48 is over the rest.

[JubJub]

This is actually really sad that some of you aren't solving it and getting 2.

[tjts1]

how do you suggest it's properly written then? "÷" and "/" are the same thing, and correctly written out 48 is over the rest.

48/2*(9+3) =288
48/(2*(9+3)) =2
Order of operations for multiplication and division is left to right.

[mrsleeve]

^^^^^^^^^^^^

I think I finally agree with you on something

[Raxe]

The distributive property of multiplication CLEARLY states that the 2(9+3) is an entire statement and CANNOT be broken up. 2(9+3) follows the distributive property which can be rewritten as (2*9+2*3). Let me repeat the 2 outside of the parenthesis follows the distributive property of multiplication and must be factored and simplified before performing any other operations on it. You do NOT compute this expression from left to right until you use Algebra to simplify the statement 2(9+3).

So this can be rewritten as:
48 / (2*9 + 2*3)

Which leaves us with

48 / 24 = 2

Answer = 2.

[tjts1]

^^^^
Thats really sad if you believe that. I agree that its not well written but there is no reason to misinterpret it that way.

48÷2(9+3) =
48÷2*(9+3)=
48÷2*12=
24*12=
288

[Raxe]

It's not sad at all... it's correct.

The general consensus among math people is that "multiplication by juxtaposition" (that is, multiplying by just putting things next to each other, rather than using the "×" sign) indicates that the juxtaposed values must be multiplied together before processing other operations.

http://www.purplemath.com/modules/orderops2.htm

[rhett325i]

The answer is 2. You have to distribute the 2(9+3) term first. Why? Because that is the correct way to do it! duh.