https://zeta.one/viral-math/

I wrote a (very long) blog post about those viral math problems and am looking for feedback, especially from people who are not convinced that the problem is ambiguous.

It’s about a 30min read so thank you in advance if you really take the time to read it, but I think it’s worth it if you joined such discussions in the past, but I’m probably biased because I wrote it :)

  • The examples I gave were that the expansion of brackets would be done differently if the order of operations was “PESADM”

    Yep I read it, and no it wouldn’t. Expanding Brackets - or in the case of this mnemonic Parentheses - is done as part of B/D (as the case may be). i.e. expanding brackets isn’t “multiplication” (no multiplication sign), but solving brackets (there are brackets there), which always come first in all the mnemonics.

    reverse polish notation exists

    …but is not taught in high school.

    your level of qualification on this topic is not above mine

    Maybe not, but it means it’s not an “appeal to authority” (as per screenshot). Maths teachers ARE an authority on Maths. The most common appeal to authority I see from people is claiming that someone (not them) is a University professor, and “they would know”. No, they wouldn’t - this topic isn’t taught at university - it’s taught in high school.

    why you were so engaged in this.

    I’m a teacher. You say you’re on the same level as me - don’t you like to teach people what’s correct?

    3 month old post

    Which will show up in search results for all eternity (it’s how I found it - I was looking for something else!).

    probably won’t be a lot of engagement in this thread from this point on

    Got another 12 responses after yours. But the point is I’m not even LOOKING for responses, just to correct misinformation. As a teacher (a Maths teacher?) have you not had people say to you “But Google says”? I certainly have. It’s the bane of my professions.

    it seems like you’re on your own

    Did you read my thread? Maths textbooks, calculators, proofs, etc. Also, someone else said what you just did, asked a Maths teacher, and was told I was correct, then was man enough to go back and edit his posts and admit I was correct and specifically said “SmartmanApps is not on his own with this”.