Answer this Facebook math problem poll. Please redeem humanity.

[kiana]

Another common wrong answer not included in the poll results from a misunderstanding of PEMDAS (thinking that addition comes before subtraction) so people are adding all the 1s and thinking it becomes 9-7.

 

(Another pitfall to make sure your kids know about) :P

[unsinkable]

Meh. So people got it wrong.

 

I see it as equivalent to those old tests that require you to read the whole test first then ONLY put your name on it b/c the last instruction says, "Don't answer any of the questions."

 

It's a "Gotcha!" game like, "What is the capital of Florida: Miami or Orlando?"

 

Gotcha! It's Tallahassee!

[MominIN]

My first inclination was zero, until I actually thought about the order of operations (good old My Dear Aunt Sally). But, I completely missed the minus sign. My brain just saw them all as plusses. So, I still got it wrong.

[antsam]

14.

 

Initially, I thought zero. Then I remembered My Dear Aunt Sally :o). Almost missed the minus sign though.

 

Fun.

 

Jodie

[happyhomemaker25]

What did FB say? Zero I'm guessing?

 

I nearly missed the minus in the middle - too late at night. LOL

 

 

See, I've been freaking out for like 5 minutes because I kept adding. I never even saw the minus!! I thought I was going insane or you all were. :tongue_smilie:

[Anita in NC]

I answered 16 because I missed the minus sign.

 

I knew the FB question had a minus and I even looked for it and still missed it.

 

So the answer should be 14.

[Lolly]

See, I've been freaking out for like 5 minutes because I kept adding. I never even saw the minus!! I thought I was going insane or you all were. :tongue_smilie:

 

I still can't find it! Maybe I need to check into some reading glasses.:001_huh::lol:

 

I also had a great difficulty with how many ones there were up there. Hard to keep track of them all. Ones and pluses; just little white lines shining at me!

[Mrs Mungo]

Meh. So people got it wrong.

 

I see it as equivalent to those old tests that require you to read the whole test first then ONLY put your name on it b/c the last instruction says, "Don't answer any of the questions."

 

It's a "Gotcha!" game like, "What is the capital of Florida: Miami or Orlando?"

 

Gotcha! It's Tallahassee!

 

I agree, but would disagree if the minus sign were removed. It amazes me how many people answered zero. My eldest dd got it right.

[Elisabeth in IL]

I should have actually looked at the whole question before voting so quickly!!! Yikes! I did what I tell my boys not to do....... :tongue_smilie:

[Crafty Mathy Mom]

It wouldn't be so bad if my mom didn't gloat that she got it right when I got it wrong. I got 14. She got 0. I majored in math and chemistry. Sigh.

[Jean in Wisc]

Meh. So people got it wrong.

 

I see it as equivalent to those old tests that require you to read the whole test first then ONLY put your name on it b/c the last instruction says, "Don't answer any of the questions."

 

It's a "Gotcha!" game like, "What is the capital of Florida: Miami or Orlando?"

 

Gotcha! It's Tallahassee!

 

Neither. LOL! Love it.

[Sasharowan]

I voted 0, but on closer consideration, it should be 2. First you multiply the last 1 by 0, getting 0. Next add the 9 1's to get 9, then add the remaining7 1's to get 7. Last subtract, 9-7=2.

[SailorMom]

I should have never looked at the results; I'm sad now :(

:iagree:

Yeah - I'm hoping the large number of wrong answers is because it's a day off of school for many of us and we've turned our brains off.

[vonfirmath]

I voted 0, but on closer consideration, it should be 2. First you multiply the last 1 by 0, getting 0. Next add the 9 1's to get 9, then add the remaining7 1's to get 7. Last subtract, 9-7=2.

 

No parentheses so you don't add the remaining 7 1s before subtracting. You add up the 9 1s, then subtract the single 1 to get 8. then add the 6 more 1s. to get 14.

 

I do think the minus is a trick question thing -- I only noticed it because there were so many 1s I was having trouble counting them! But the multiply by 0 part should be something that is taught.

[Sasharowan]

No parentheses so you don't add the remaining 7 1s before subtracting. You add up the 9 1s, then subtract the single 1 to get 8. then add the 6 more 1s. to get 14.

 

I do think the minus is a trick question thing -- I only noticed it because there were so many 1s I was having trouble counting them! But the multiply by 0 part should be something that is taught.

Yes, I was just coming back to edit my post. LOL, that's what I get for trying math when just waking up!! I only noticed the minus because of counting the ones too.

[MaryCatherine]

It wouldn't be so bad if my mom didn't gloat that she got it right when I got it wrong. I got 14. She got 0. I majored in math and chemistry. Sigh.

 

It is 14. You're right and she is wrong.

[unsinkable]

I should have actually looked at the whole question before voting so quickly!!! Yikes! I did what I tell my boys not to do....... :tongue_smilie:

 

Love this! :lol:

[UnsinkableKristen]

*sigh* We are doomed! :tongue_smilie:

 

In order for the answer to be zero, it would need to be written like this:

 

(1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1)*0=?

 

 

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I'm glad I have a few years before I need to teach this because obviously I am forgetting large parts of my own education.

[unsinkable]

I agree, but would disagree if the minus sign were removed. It amazes me how many people answered zero. My eldest dd got it right.

 

Yeaaaaah, maybe. (unsinkable tries to agree without sounding querulous and whiny. good thing it's the interwebs. :lol:)

 

It's still a bit gotcha!

[kiana]

Yeaaaaah, maybe. (unsinkable tries to agree without sounding querulous and whiny. good thing it's the interwebs. :lol:)

 

It's still a bit gotcha!

 

I would agree that it's a bit gotcha ... but I'd also say that order of ops is important enough that we could all use an occasional reminder, especially if we're teaching math.

[Scarlett]

To those of you who think that the answer is anything other than zero: Please show your work because if it's not zero then I'm completely confused. :tongue_smilie:

 

Me too.

[ourjourneys]

Thank you for this, because it is my thought exactly :)

 

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I'm glad I have a few years before I need to teach this because obviously I am forgetting large parts of my own education.

[unsinkable]

I would agree that it's a bit gotcha ... but I'd also say that order of ops is important enough that we could all use an occasional reminder, especially if we're teaching math.

 

Sure, we can use a reminder but that is not what this is. It's a Facebook gotcha! game.

 

Order of operations is "important" in school but there are few practical applications.

[In2why]

See, I've been freaking out for like 5 minutes because I kept adding. I never even saw the minus!! I thought I was going insane or you all were. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

This is me.....I know I need glasses, but sheesh!

[vonfirmath]

Sure, we can use a reminder but that is not what this is. It's a Facebook gotcha! game.

 

Order of operations is "important" in school but there are few practical applications.

 

The application that jumps to mind for me is this: For computer programmers it is hugely important to understand how the computer is going to interpret what you write. (And this includes if you just want to make an Excel spreadsheet that does some calculations automatically!)

 

I suspect it comes into use a lot in Science as well because we used it a LOT in Physics.

[kiana]

Order of operations is "important" in school but there are few practical applications.

 

On the contrary:

 

Any time you enter something into a calculator, you need to pay attention to the order of operations, because the calculator will.

 

Any time you enter something into a spreadsheet, the same thing. I've had to track errors in the billing spreadsheets of friends who had their own business. The errors boiled down to precedence errors.

 

Any time you take a course outside of math (such as chemistry, physics, engineering, programming) or work in a field where you still need to work with math of any sort, you need to use order of operations to evaluate expressions correctly or even to enter them into your calculator/computer correctly.

 

If you're shopping and you buy 3 widgets which are 5 dollars each and 4 gadgets which are 10 dollars each, your price is 3*5+4*10. Without realizing it, you are using the order of operations to evaluate this correctly.

[LibraryLover]

I can't redeem humanity, because I voted 0 and then went back. It's 14, and I called a Saxon child over to make sure and she got 14. But as far as reedemming humanity, poll -wise, no can do.

[kiana]

Me too.

 

Since multiplication is done before addition and subtraction, the last 1x0 is 0, then the addition and subtraction gives 14.

[regentrude]

Order of operations is "important" in school but there are few practical applications.

 

You are kidding, right?

Because what you are saying is that math has few practical applications. Aside from adding your grocery shopping: You can not do anything involving higher math if you do not know order of operations. And there are plenty of practical applications, for instance in the computer programs that make it possible for you to use these boards. Or the math that made it possible to develop the computer in the first place.

[HistoryMom]

Yes! Whew...

 

DS15 and I have this conversation all the time. He insists that the calculator doesn't care about order of operations, but then it gives him wrong answers if he types the numbers in without regard for them.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Well, I get the facepalm award, too, because I didn't see that minus!

 

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[kiana]

Yes! Whew...

 

DS15 and I have this conversation all the time. He insists that the calculator doesn't care about order of operations, but then it gives him wrong answers if he types the numbers in without regard for them.

 

He's got it backwards. The calculator doesn't care that HE doesn't care about order of operations :D:D

[luvnlattes]

Well, I get the facepalm award, too, because I didn't see that minus!

 

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Same here! I even thought to myself, "Why would anyone pick 14? Are people having trouble counting?" :o :leaving:

[Liz CA]

If I had seen the minus in the middle...where are my glasses?

[GingerPoppy]

I called my 9 year old over to try it. Disclosure: she just studied order of operations in MM4 this month, so it was fresh. Anyway, she got 14. :D

[LibraryLover]

If I had seen the minus in the middle...where are my glasses?

 

I won't make excuses, but I did not see that at first. All these years, and we've talked constantly about the importance of order of operations. How easy it is to not pay close attention.

[Scarlett]

I won't make excuses, but I did not see that at first. All these years, and we've talked constantly about the importance of order of operations. How easy it is to not pay close attention.

 

I didn't see the minus sign either. Not sure that was my biggest problem though as I clearly wasn't thinking about OoO...even though ds111 has been doing a lot of that recently.

 

I showed him the problem. He immediately yelled out 0. Then when I didn't confirm that he was right, he said, 'oh wait.' Then he got 14. :D

[HistoryMom]

He's got it backwards. The calculator doesn't care that HE doesn't care about order of operations :D:D

 

 

:D

[Trresh]

Ugh. I answered 16. I didn't see the minus sign.

[Teachin'Mine]

Haha, I almost did, too! Right before I hit vote, I was like nnnooooo!!!

 

I was concentrating on how many ones, as they kept "moving" on me, and didn't see the minus sign. :tongue_smilie: It was after I voted that I read the whole thread and saw it was supposed to be tricky and looked at it again and saw the minus.

 

I thought there might be some who would multiply the whole thing by zero, but I had no idea the percent would be that high. I'd be curious to see the results from elementary school teachers working this same problem. I had more than one elementary school teacher whose forte was not math. Without their teacher text in hand, they would have been lost.

[Teachin'Mine]

It wouldn't be so bad if my mom didn't gloat that she got it right when I got it wrong. I got 14. She got 0. I majored in math and chemistry. Sigh.

 

:lol:

 

Actually that's encouraging to those of us with students who are better at math than we are. :D

[beaners]

I can see missing the minus sign. I didn't think the 1*0 would give so many people trouble, though.

[bcnlvr]

I voted 14. Multiplication first, then addition and subtraction (watch out for that minus in the middle).

 

Hope it's right. I am not on Facebook.....

[unsinkable]

On the contrary:

 

Any time you enter something into a calculator, you need to pay attention to the order of operations, because the calculator will.

 

Any time you enter something into a spreadsheet, the same thing. I've had to track errors in the billing spreadsheets of friends who had their own business. The errors boiled down to precedence errors.

 

Any time you take a course outside of math (such as chemistry, physics, engineering, programming) or work in a field where you still need to work with math of any sort, you need to use order of operations to evaluate expressions correctly or even to enter them into your calculator/computer correctly.

 

If you're shopping and you buy 3 widgets which are 5 dollars each and 4 gadgets which are 10 dollars each, your price is 3*5+4*10. Without realizing it, you are using the order of operations to evaluate this correctly.

 

I'd ventrue to say that if you go into accounting, science, computer science, etc. you're probably fine with order of operations.

 

And if you're shopping for widgets and you needed to used order of operations in a formal way (and by that I mean, you have to stop and ask yourself "what operation do I use first?" )to figure out your example correctly then I don't know what to say about that. An average thinker wouldn't do that.

[unsinkable]

You are kidding, right?

Because what you are saying is that math has few practical applications.

 

Nope, that's what you said I said.

 

Aside from adding your grocery shopping: You can not do anything involving higher math if you do not know order of operations. And there are plenty of practical applications, for instance in the computer programs that make it possible for you to use these boards. Or the math that made it possible to develop the computer in the first place.

 

No, I'm not at all.

 

I am talking about the everyday use.

 

How many times have you used exponents or square roots when grocery shopping?

 

As for computer programming, like I said in my other reply --- you're probably fine with order of operations if that's your thang. ;)

[Scuff]

I consider myself fairly competent in math. But I missed it the first time. It's set up to trick you. You see all those ones and you mind thinks, "they're trying to trip me up with all those ones, but 0*anything is still 0". So you pick 0. It's only when you slow down for a minute that you realize, "duh! I just taught OoO yesterday!" Now, the people who defend the 0 answer and call the 14s stupid, I have no excuse for them. :)

[kiana]

I'd ventrue to say that if you go into accounting, science, computer science, etc. you're probably fine with order of operations.

 

And if you're shopping for widgets and you needed to used order of operations in a formal way (and by that I mean, you have to stop and ask yourself "what operation do I use first?" )to figure out your example correctly then I don't know what to say about that. An average thinker wouldn't do that.

 

But I do see people make errors like this on their calculators all the time. These are not people for whom math is their thing. These are people who have a home contracting or plumbing business who have to pay someone for even simple things because they can't do their own spreadsheets. These are people who are trying to figure out (if I bought 3 widgets and 5 gidgets and they were all 20% off) will type in the price for widgets plus the price for gidgets and then multiply by 80% not realizing that the calculator they're using will only multiply the gidget price by 80%.

[unsinkable]

But I do see people make errors like this on their calculators all the time. These are not people for whom math is their thing. These are people who have a home contracting or plumbing business who have to pay someone for even simple things because they can't do their own spreadsheets. These are people who are trying to figure out (if I bought 3 widgets and 5 gidgets and they were all 20% off) will type in the price for widgets plus the price for gidgets and then multiply by 80% not realizing that the calculator they're using will only multiply the gidget price by 80%.

 

Maybe I'm missing something but if they hit equal after adding and before multiplying, the answer'd be correct.

 

Calculators are GIGO.

 

It sounds like these people have a problem with basic math if they can't estimate the cost of materials and a discount.

 

And I did originally write *few* not *no*.

[unsinkable]

OK -- just got my $5 calculator.

 

50 + 80 * .2 = 26

 

50 + 80 = 130 * .2 = 26

 

:confused:

[kiana]

Maybe I'm missing something but if they hit equal after adding and before multiplying, the answer'd be correct.

 

Calculators are GIGO.

 

It sounds like these people have a problem with basic math if they can't estimate the cost of materials and a discount.

 

And I did originally write *few* not *no*.

 

It would be correct if they hit equals, but they usually don't.

 

Calculators ARE GIGO. But if you don't KNOW that what you're putting in is garbage, it's easy to get confused. And the more things you're trying to add up, the worse it gets.

 

I would say that knowing and understanding the correct order of ops is actually more important than being able to do long multiplication/division. You can DO mult/div on a calculator if you really can't grok it. But you can't get the right answer out of your calculator if you don't understand WHEN you're adding and WHEN you're multiplying (which is the issue here -- if people think 0 comes out, clearly they would expect that when you add a whole bunch of stuff and multiply at the end it should multiply all the stuff.)