Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
4 Answers
- Demiurge42Lv 76 years agoFavorite Answer
It's not so much that people don't know their order of operations but that they don't know the proper use of the symbol /. The horizontal bar in a rational expression is used to represent division but is also a grouping symbol. When people unfamiliar with writing expressions online try to type a rational expression, they type / in place of the horizontal bar not realizing this means division only and is not a grouping symbol. It can't be a grouping symbol as how would you know what is grouped in the numerator and the denominator without parentheses. This probably seems obvious to you and me but to most, it appears it is not.
It still drives me a bit crazy, though, that so many people asking a calculus question can't seem to type things correctly. I've gotten tired of replying to questions by starting with "assuming you mean...." when it seems somewhat obvious that they meant something other than what they typed. I either ignore these questions or answer them based exactly on what they typed instead of second guessing what they meant. Especially if it's a calculus question or some more advanced subject. I just assume someone asking this type of question knows their order of operations and meant exactly what they type.
I also think it's weird when someone answers by saying the question is ambiguous. Per the order of operations it is not ambiguous! That's why we have the order of operations, to avoid ambiguity. It may be typed wrong but it isn't ambiguous.
- ignoramusLv 76 years ago
No, it just means that the majority of people posting questions do not know how to format them correctly. It p*sses me off too. If someone wanting help cannot be bothered to learn how to present an expression properly, why should anyone bother to answer it.
- ?Lv 76 years ago
No, by the rules of PEMDAS the division would be carried out first...
a+(b/c)+d=a+b/c+d
And it is not for this site, but by the rules of mathematics...