I hate how these things always come up because “order of operations!” It’s mostly people who are bad at math remembering one topic they struggled with and finally got right, and now they know it’s a touchy subject so it will drive engagement. It’s the modern equivalent of “Mathematicians hate this one secret for solving equations! Click to find out!” Pure engagement bait.
But in all the engineering ive done, things never really come up like this. If there is any potential clarity issues, parentheses would be used, or it would be formatted in a way that makes it much more clear.
40 - (32/2), or 40 - ³²⁄₂ has no clarity issues imo. You don’t even have to think about order of operations because 32 halves is a number on its own. it isn’t an “operation” to do necessarily, it’s a fraction to reduce.
And yes, I get the joke. The joke is making fun of the engagement bait of “some people will get the order of operations wrong!”
The joke
(40 - 32)/2 = 4
If you stop here, you used the wrong order of operations. This is where the the fights normally start in the replies.
but the kid said “4!” not “4”
40 - (32/2) = 24 = 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 4!
s. If there is any potential clarity issues, parentheses would be used, or it would be formatted in a way that makes it much more clear.
It reminds me of a very old xkcd that posits "communicating badly and acting smug when you’re misunderstood is not cleverness "
I mean, xkcd numbers its comics sequentially, and he’s well into the 2000’s now, so a 1xy comic is ancient. Looks like at times, old xkcd was brutal.
It’s the same as “only 2% of people get this right! If you get it right you have a very strong brain!”. It’s just a little more devious about it.
