What is the answer? Discuss.
288
/thread
There was a thread on The Escapist about this recently. I researched it and found that it can go either way, but 288 is preferred. In PEMDAS, some people say multiplication comes first, and some people say it depends on which one comes first in the expression. So it depends on the views of whoever’s asking.
It’s either P-E-M-D-A-S or P-E-(M or D)-(A or S).
I actually got it from a link to a math forum in some computer chat I frequent.
Using PEMDAS, M/D and A/S are on equal levels, you work left to right.
But yeah, I was trying to get a topic going over here. Guess I failed. 
Meh, this problem seems rather silly. I’m of the opinion that if I were to ever encounter it in a real situation, I would ask for clarification.
That said, first time I did it, I used PEMDAS the wrong way, gave multiplication priority, and got 2. Thought about it for a bit, read some of the comments on the Escapist forums, and ultimately came to the conclusion that the answer was 288.
In other words, it’s probably a good thing I’m taking college algebra this fall instead of jumping right into Calculus.
Uh. Multiplication and division have the same priority, no? Which means you do them from left to right, no? Meaning you get 288, no?
…and I have no idea what PEMDAS is. Anyone care to fill me in?
Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication/Division, Addition/Subtraction.
Order of operations.
I have no idea what this PEDMAS is so I just used good ol’ BEDMAS and got 8.6 repeating, so now I’m really curious as to what the hell PEDMAS is.
PEMDAS and BEDMAS are the same thing, essentially. They both just represent order or operations in a mnemonic structure.
PEMDAS: Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication/Division, Addition/Subtraction.
BEDMAS: Brackets, Exponents, Division/Multiplication, Addition/Subtraction.
Same idea, just different first letter and order of Division and Multiplication in the mnemonic structure.
My understanding is that PEMDAS is primarily taught in America, whereas BEDMAS is typically used everywhere else.
That said, the way you are taught these Mnemonics can affect your answer, I think. I was taught that Multiplication came before Division, but when I asked the teacher (mind you, this is like, four years after I was initially taught PEMDAS), they told me neither took priority, and to do both at the same time while solving the equation left to right. Same with Addition/Subtraction. But the thing is, since I had been doing it wrong for so many years, I’ve got it stuck in my head to always do Multiplication first, then Division when solving an equation. I have to remind myself that neither take priority.
@Syntax: How the hell did you get 8.6 repeating?
I might have fucked up somewhere.
After giving it some thought, yes, 288 is correct.
On the subject of PEMDAS: you Americans really do love doing things differently from the rest of the world don’t you?