http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=6%C…Just type it into those and you get 9. The long way to do it is:6÷2(1+2)3(1+2)3(3)9 According to the order of operations, you either divide or multiply first depending on which comes first when reading the expression from left to right.......
thus the problem becomes
(6÷2) * 3
= 3 * 3 =9
realize it is a trick question because you naturally want to group the parenthases with the number before it. in standard equations most books or teachers should avoid this confusion as this has nothing to do with mathematical reason (just as not being able to figure out a silly riddle does not make you bad at reading or english)
the only exception is when the problem looks like this (which is a more common way of writing;
6
______
2(1+2)
here it is more obvious that you multiply first then divide
Scientific or graphing calculators and the Google toolbar already have the order of operations built into their processors. WolframAlpha works as well. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=6%C…
Just type it into those and you get 9. The long way to do it is:
6÷2(1+2)
3(1+2)
3(3)
9 <===
According to the order of operations, you either divide or multiply first depending on which comes first when reading the expression from left to right. In this case, division comes first so you divide first, and then multiply afterwards.
A lot of people seem to believe that because the Parentheses come first in the order of operations, you should multiply first. However, after you add the 2 and 1 together, which makes the expression 6÷2(3), the expression is now mathematically equivalent to 6 ÷ 2 × 3, in which case it is much easier to see that you divide the 6 by 2 first and then multiply by 3, which is equal to 9, not 1.
