• marcos@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Nope. One of those is just wrong. That symbol applies to the numbers around it, not to any random group of things you pick by taste.

    • laranis@lemmy.zip
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      4 months ago

      And someone being proven objectively wrong has always led to an amicable resolution.

      You’re right. I’m just saying that doesn’t matter.

    • janAkali@lemmy.sdf.org
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      4 months ago

      Both are right, depending on who you ask:

      most people see:

      8 / 2 * (2+2) = 16
      

      math people see “juxtaposition” instead of multiplication, it has precedence over multiplication and division:

      5 / 2a = 5 / (2 * a)
      

      Math notation just sucks and is not standard in general, everyone just tries to avoid ambiguity like in this equation.