Viral Order Of Operations Problem (Common Errors & Solution)

In this video I show the common errors people may have made to make this problem go viral on Facebook! I then show how we would use Order of Operations (AKA PEMDAS) to find the correct answer.
Comment below another common mistake you could see people making!
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[@mathsdone2265]

Very helpful video for pre O levels students. This confusion remains with most of the students. But you have tried to fix it beautifully. Well done teacher. Keep flying higher and higher 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@homemademathematics]

Thank you so much for your encouraging words! :)

[@SteinerSE]

A good video on distribution would be welcome as that's one of the problem people have with problems like this (as you identified). They just don't know the purpose of distribution, when it applies and how it works. I often try to explain that it serves no purpose in arithmetic since it requires two terms to distribute onto, but you can always simplify groupings in arithmetic to a single term. What they also fail to understand is that you distribute the whole leading term when using distribution, not just the closest number, all of 8/2 have to be distributed. Another point that can be made is when you simplify the grouping you can actually just remove the parentheses and replace with an explicit multiplication sign. There's a lot of confusion about this (that you also hinted at) in that there's absolutely no requirement to remove the grouping, but it seems that people don't know that they can do just so without any additional actions if it's in its simplest form. Nicely made, easy to follow. (from one of the group admins you briefly talked to on FB earlier)

[@SteinerSE]

Another extremely common problem we see (but non existent in the US) is that many interpret the O in BODMAS to stand for "of/off or open" which they think is a secondary multiplication step to remove brackets (Often said as "Bracket Off"). The fact that their interpretation have no place to solve the "orders" doesn't even register, or the fact that no other acronym or rule mentions an O or any such function. (Just stating this as you asked for other errors we see).

[@asmrformoms3554]

What a great video, I'm impressed! Math is not my forte so I always appreciate those who put their knowledge on the subject out there! :D Keep it up! You definitely deserve over 1K subs!

[@homemademathematics]

Thank you so much! That means a lot to me :)

[@legandhand]

I recommend that you make a large Playlist on algebra rules and tricks, this topic is a core of math and if you understand it well math gets a lot easier

[@colorizedenhanced-timeless5945]

Whats up, Homemade Mathematics. beautifully surprising video. thanks. :)

[@homemademathematics]

Glad you liked it!

[@legandhand]

Also I welcome you to the small world of math fans on KZbin

[@scottwilhelm2086]

So, if you go from left to right after resolving the parentheses, then you get 16, and if multiply, then divide, you get 1. And you assert that the former is more correct. And while I don't disagree with you, I observe that your argument has no evidence that supports that is more correct to go from left to right than it is to multiply before you divide. No mathematical argument should be made without evidence.

[@scottwilhelm2086]

How about this? 8/2(2+2) = 16 = 8/2(x) 8/2 = 16/x 8 = 32/x x = 32/8 = 4 = 2+2 QED But 8/2(2+2) = 1 = 8/2x 8 = 2x x = 4 = 2+2 QED You must go further. Your argument is not adequate. You need to prove that one answer is more correct than the other.

[@willjohnston2959]

It is a convention that multiplications and divisions are considered same priority and they should be done from left to right. It's just a convention to address ambiguity. What "evidence" are you expecting? Check any math(s) textbook where order of operations is discussed. It certainly is arbitrary, though. It just as well could have been "do divisions first from left to right, then multiplications from right to left." Or something else that equally determines a unique outcome.

[@scottwilhelm2086]

@@willjohnston2959 In my previous 2 posts, I think I made it abundantly clear what evidence I was expecting! Providing evidence in support of one's argument is the job of the person posing the argument. If "any math textbook where order of operations is discussed," then it should have been easy for the producer of Homemade Mathematics to have cited some math textbook, hold it up, tell us when and where it was published, who wrote it, etc. As it is, your criticism of this video is MUCH more harsh than mine. I am only complaining that she made an unsupported argument. You are adding that her argument would have been extremely easy to support, and so her argument is incredibly lazy.

[@scottwilhelm2086]

@@willjohnston2959, following your suggestion, I looked up Order of Operations on Wikipedia. I found that not every textbook where order of operations is discussed supports the convention that division and multiplication are done left to right: "For example, the manuscript submission instructions for the Physical Review journals state that multiplication is of higher precedence than division with a slash,[23] and this is also the convention observed in prominent physics textbooks such as the Course of Theoretical Physics by Landau and Lifshitz and the Feynman Lectures on Physics.[d]" And while many professors dismiss Wikipedia as mere popular opinion rather than fact, your claim about order of operations is precisely based on popular opinion: that it is the convention. Well, it clearly is "a convention," but it is definitely not the convention.

[@willjohnston2959]

@@scottwilhelm2086 I did not criticize the video. Don't put words in my mouth. This channel is an informal one I think geared toward parents and students at home. It's probably intended for an American middle school or high school student, and is just pointing out how this "viral" item (deliberately built to excite controversy) should be handled, in the way that US middle school and high school teachers would expect. Edit: Maybe she could have discussed the issue that prompts the ambiguity: Whether multiplication expressed by juxtaposition should be interpreted to have its own implicit grouping. That is, should 8 ÷ 2(2 + 2) be interpreted as 8 ÷ (2(2 + 2))? Here is a page discussing this issue, with what I think is a nice touch.. www.themathdoctors.org/order-of-operations-implicit-multiplication/