The following ‘basic’ mathematical equation has left scientists divided over the correct process to solve it, with two methods resulting in two completely different answers.
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Is the answer ONE or NINE, or maybe something else?
Those South Africans who can still remember their school days will not remember so fondly what they were taught ‘BODMAS’ when it comes to solving such problems.
BODMAS is an acronym to help students remember the correct order in which to solve mathematical problems.
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A quick reminder means Brackets B, orders O (powers/indices or roots), division D, multiplication M, addition A, subtraction S.
Using the above, the answer would seem to be ONE.
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However!
By current standards, the process for solving the equation is to first address what is in parentheses.
So 1+2 becomes 3 and the equation becomes 6 ÷ 2 (3).
The brackets around the 3 indicate that it should be multiplied by what comes before it, so the equation translates to 6 ÷ 2 x 3.
Since multiplication and division have the same precedence, the equation is solved from left to right: 6 ÷ 2 becomes 3, making the equation 3 x 3, resulting in a solution of NINE.
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What answer do you get? Please let us know by clicking the ‘comment’ tab below this article.
