this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023
857 points (96.4% liked)

Memes

45655 readers
2529 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
857
6÷2(1+2) (programming.dev)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

https://zeta.one/viral-math/

I wrote a (very long) blog post about those viral math problems and am looking for feedback, especially from people who are not convinced that the problem is ambiguous.

It's about a 30min read so thank you in advance if you really take the time to read it, but I think it's worth it if you joined such discussions in the past, but I'm probably biased because I wrote it :)

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

That's cool and Imma let you finish but I'm not a mathematician and the answer is 9.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

That's the correct answer if you follow one of the conventions. There are actually two conflicting but equally valid conventions. The blog explains the full story but this math problem is really ambiguous.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

That’s the correct answer if you follow

...the rules of Maths.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I read it. And I'm not a mathematician, so the answer is 9.

E: The salty mathematicians down-voting this can get fucked lmfao

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Ooh now I get you, sry. True. But sadly you now know the truth and you have to be careful with the implicit multiplications on your tax forms from now on ;-)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

I’m not a mathematician and the answer is 9

I'm a Mathematician and the answer is 1.