The internet is full of puzzles that have confused a lot of people and sparked debates about the correct answers. Similar to the famous blue and black dress that puzzled social media and experts alike, there’s also a viral math problem that has had workplaces and scientists scratching their heads.
In a tweet from 2019, a user shared a math problem that sparked a huge debate online. The problem was 8 ÷ 2(2 + 2), and it got people talking not just on Twitter but all over social media.
Editors at Popular Mechanics, a lifestyle magazine, found themselves stuck because they couldn’t agree on a famous math puzzle. They took their discussion to the official chatbox at work, where they argued and tried to figure out what the correct answer really was.
One of the editors mentioned that in elementary and high school, students learned a helpful method called “PEMDAS.” This stands for “Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction.” When solving math problems, you should follow the order of operations represented by this acronym. First, you tackle anything in parentheses, then move on to exponents, and continue in that order from left to right.
To start, you need to solve the 2 + 2 inside the parentheses first, which equals 4. This leaves you with 8 ÷ 2 x 4. Next, according to Mashup Math, you should do the leftmost operation first. So, you need to solve 8 ÷ 2 before doing 2 x 4, even though multiplication usually comes before division.
The quotient would result in 4, which gives us 4 x 4, with a product of 16. However, half of the people online tend to disagree with this operation – including scientists who know their math.
Some of the editors from Popular Mechanics thought the answer was 1. But how did they come up with that question? They also used “PEMDAS,” but they had a different way of looking at it.
They all decided that the 2+2 inside the parentheses should be calculated first, but the result should be treated as if it were still in parentheses – like in the problem 8÷2(4). One of the editors mentioned that from what he learned in math class, multiplication inside parentheses takes priority over division, even if the division is at the beginning of the equation.
As the question siphoned the energy of the internet on the wild debate, mathematicians and scientists entered the battle. American Mathematical Society Public Awareness Office Mike Breen cited that based on the order of operations, 16 is the right answer.
However, he admitted that the equation, on the way it was written, is actually “ambiguous” in nature.
In math, things can often be unclear. Mathematicians work hard to create rules that are very clear. If you follow the order of operations exactly, you would get 16, but I wouldn’t be upset with someone if they said the answer was 1, he explained.
Despite Breen’s clear answer, some people are still unconvinced. The other half of the magazine editors sought the help of Physics Professor Rhett Allain from Southeastern Louisiana University, which they believed had finally solved the debate.
There are certain rules we follow when writing, just like we have rules for spelling words. However, there are also different ways to do things. For example, some people write “gray” while others write “grey.” Even with these differences, we still get the meaning, he explained.
But for him, the question should have been correctly written like this 8/(2*(2+2)), which would yield the quotient of 1.