Simple math problem 'only for geniuses' has people stumped saying the 'world is doomed'
Topics: Community, Education, Social Media
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: Threads/@deepak_thakur_9897/Miramax
Topics: Community, Education, Social Media
A math problem has left people scratching their heads, with some confidently giving the wrong answer. Awkward.
I’m afraid I’m going to have to take you back to math class. I’m sorry, I know.
But a post on social media has essentially been daring people to see if they can work out an equation, and despite its simplicity some users have been getting it wrong - to be fair, I don’t blame them.
The post has been circulating on Instagram’s Threads and claims it is for geniuses only... that might be a bit of an exaggeration but it seems it has had the desired affect.
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Many Thread users have been sharing the right answer, with a few even showing their working out (extra marks for them).
However, some have been confidently posting the wrong answer which has generated a number of debates online.
The question is: 3x3-3÷3+3.
Now at quick glance what did you get as the answer?
How confident are you in that answer? Do you need an extra second or two to double check?
Well let’s run through it together.
At first looking you might jump straight to solving the question in the order the equation is presented in.
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So this would mean, nine minus three equals six, six divided by three equals two, add three and the final answer would be five.
But I'm afraid to say this wouldn’t be correct.
Some users couldn’t even believe people were getting this wrong, arguing that the ‘world is doomed’. I’d say its a little bit dramatic but that’s how people talk isn’t it.
For equations like this, it is important to employ an important process - BIDMAS, or BODMAS, better known as PEMDAS if you're in America.
BIDMAS is an acronym used to tell you the correct order to complete an equation when there are different operations.
It stands for Brackets, Indices, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction.
Thankfully, in the comment’s section, one person explained how it would all work.
They wrote: "To solve the mathematical equation correctly, we use the order of operations (PEMDAS/BODMAS: Parentheses/Brackets, Exponents/Orders, Multiplication and Division (from left to right), Addition and Subtraction (from left to right)).
"Here are the steps: 1. Perform multiplication and division first: 3 x 3 = 9 and 3 / 3 = 1
"2. Substitute the results back into the equation: 9 - 1 + 3.
"3. Perform addition and subtraction in sequence: 9 - 1 = 8, 8 + 3 = 11. So, the solution is= 11."
So, if you got 11 the first time, kudos to you, if not, might be worth having a quick flick through your old school math textbook.