this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023
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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 :)

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

Without any additional parentheses, the division sign is assumed to separate numerators and denominators within a complete expression, in which case you would reduce each separately. It's very, very marginally ambiguous at best.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Assumed by whom? Clearly not everyone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

It's what is actually taught in high school, so there are those who remember and those who don't.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

You are correct with your definition - Terms are separated by operators and joined by grouping symbols - and it's consequently not ambiguous at all (using so-called "weak juxtaposition" breaks that rule).