kiana Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 OK -- just got my $5 calculator. 50 + 80 * .2 = 26 50 + 80 = 130 * .2 = 26 :confused: With a calculator that will only take two operations at once, it does work that way. But if you put those formulas into excel or just paste them into google, you will get two different answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 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.) OK, then give them a pen. Will they get the correct answer? Yes -- good. No problem. No -- not good. Bigger problem than not doing order of operations correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 OK -- just got my $5 calculator. 50 + 80 * .2 = 26 50 + 80 = 130 * .2 = 26 :confused: What you are doing here on your calculator is (50 + 80) * .2 and not 50 + 80 *.2 50 + 80 * .2 = 50 + 16 = 66 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 With a calculator that will only take two operations at once, it does work that way. But if you put those formulas into excel or just paste them into google, you will get two different answers. Like I wrote -- few, not none. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 What you are doing here on your calculator is (50 + 80) * .2 and not 50 + 80 *.2 50 + 80 * .2 = 50 + 16 = 66 I am doing what kiana wrote in her post that causes problems. I can take pictures of what I entered into my calculator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 What you are doing here on your calculator is (50 + 80) * .2 and not 50 + 80 *.2 50 + 80 * .2 = 50 + 16 = 66 I am doing what kiana wrote in her post that causes problems. I can take pictures of what I entered into my calculator. It is those exact numbers that I wrote based on kiana's example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 I am doing what kiana wrote in her post that causes problems. I can take pictures of what I entered into my calculator. My point being that if you wanted to solve 50 + 80 * .2 correctly, then you would need to know that you should do 80 * .2 first and then add 50: 50 + 80 = 130; 130 *.2 = 26 80 * .2 = 16; 16 + 50 = 66 Different answers. The first one is (50 + 80) * .2 . The second one is 50 + 80 * .2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 My point being that if you wanted to solve 50 + 80 * .2 correctly, then you would need to know that you should do 80 * .2 first and then add 50: 50 + 80 = 130; 130 *.2 = 26 80 * .2 = 16; 16 + 50 = 66 Different answers. The first one is (50 + 80) * .2 . The second one is 50 + 80 * .2 Agreed. But that wasn't what I (we) was (were) doing. Kiana said on some calculators, the answer of widget plus gidget times discount would be wrong. On mine it would be correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Agreed. But that wasn't what I (we) was (were) doing. Kiana said on some calculators, the answer of widget plus gidget times discount would be wrong. On mine it would be correct. On yours, it will be correct. If you attempt, however, to add widget + discounted gidget on your calculator, when the widget is NOT on sale, you will get the incorrect answer. This is because your calculator is apparently a model that can only do one operation at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 On yours, it will be correct. If you attempt, however, to add widget + discounted gidget on your calculator, when the widget is NOT on sale, you will get the incorrect answer. This is because your calculator is apparently a model that can only do one operation at a time. Correct. And this would require you to know the order of operations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Correct. And this would require you to know the order of operations. To use the calculator correctly. You don't need to know order of operations to correctly cipher any combos of widgets, gidgets and discounts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munchkins_mama Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 These Facebook math polls drive me insane. The majority is almost always wrong. It isn't tricky at all. You just have to read the WHOLE equation first, then follow order of operations. Just like I tell DD to do, read the whole problem first, THEN try to figure it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Never mind -- other people already mentioned it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Me too. Note to self. Don reading glasses before attempting math in public. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I can see missing the minus sign. I didn't think the 1*0 would give so many people trouble, though. I totally missed the minus sign and couldn't figure out why so many people were getting 14. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seraphina Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 My ds 15 has been so frustrated by these questions on fb. He has repeatedly given math lessons to people who have tried arguing with him. I told him that it was a loss cause and not to judge everyone based on fb postings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 My ds 15 has been so frustrated by these questions on fb. He has repeatedly given math lessons to people who have tried arguing with him. I told him that it was a loss cause and not to judge everyone based on fb postings. Ehh ... it's not entirely a lost cause, from the posts I've seen some people will listen and some won't. But yeah, you can't let people who want to argue and/or troll get to you :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuirkyKapers Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Oh drat- I am part of the doomed humanity!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcjlkplus3 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I picked 0 and couldn't for the life of me figure out why anybody would get anything else - I mean anything times 0 equals 0. Order of operations NEVER even hit my radar - can I use the excuse that I studied it a REALLY long time ago and my oldest is only to 4th grade math and hasn't learned it yet? :blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 That minus in there nearly caught me... Luckily as I was adding all those extra ones my cat pawed my side and made me jump. He must have been telling me to double check. :joker: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rjmakmom Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 I put this on my facebook page as well...wanted to see how smart my friends are. My son would call it an "epic fail". EVERY SINGLE person who answered my post got it wrong. And I, too, have had some of the responders argue with me as to why they are right and I am wrong. I wrote it on the whiteboard in my kitchen for some dinnertime fun...6 out of 6 got it wrong (that is including the k and 2nd grader, though). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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