• Otherwise this wouldn’t be such a debating issue

    It’s not in debate in any Maths textbooks, which is something none of the people claiming ambiguity ever reference.

    We were taught that 2(2) is the same as 2x2

    It’s the same as (2x2), which is 1 term, not 2x2, which is 2 terms, which is why you can’t prematurely remove the brackets. See worked example in this textbook…

    • Aermis@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      OK, so in that picture you sent, the bottom part of it where it says you multiply the brackets by the number preceding it. Take that and put it to the right of the devision equation.

      If you just put those numbers into brackets you’ll also have to put 8/2 in brackets as well. Then it’s (8/2)x(2+2). The answer is 16. Your way the answer is 1. Which is wrong.

      • Then it’s (8/2)x(2+2). The answer is 16

        Yes, the answer to that is 16, which isn’t the same as 8/2(2+2) (since you added a multiply to it and changed the expression).

        you’ll also have to put 8/2 in brackets as well

        No, 8/2 is two terms. I see you didn’t read the link about Terms then. If you put 8/2 into brackets, then you just changed the expression, and thus also the answer. According to your logic - add more brackets to the left - 4+8/2(2+2)=(4+8/2)(2+2)=32