48/2(9+3) = ?

[nixer]

As I read her the above quotes... she said, "WHAT!?!?!" Thanks Drain & Nixer, she's aggravated at someone other than me today! :)

tell her not to take it personal ive been aggravting ppl since 1977 lol

 

[drainbamage]

Lol, gnoles, I capped at an 8th grade teacher for my example, so your wife doesn't count!

 

[JMSKI333]

i don't even know how you would get 2...

 

[JMSKI333]

ok i can see how to get 2, thats definitely not the way to solve that problem. 288 is it! Calculus has me trained well.

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

Try this... Solve for x

Anyone know trig?

 

[dougers31]

I'm guessing your triangle isn't drawn to scale;) What does the 31 represent?

 

[nixer]

3 4 5 :D
i.e. the long leg would be 5. if the 3 and 4 side make a perfect 90.
the 31 degree leg would be longer than the other.
side x should be 10.
unless im just jacked tonight.
thats not the way they want you to do it though.

 

[nixer]

oh waint thats not right either because its a 31 degree angle, but if its 31 then the other cannot be 90 degrees!
they thought of my rule. those cheaters!
perhaps this would help Trigonometric Identities and Formulas

 

[drainbamage]

assuming you can have a 'bent' triangle (given your sketch isn't exact lines, I'm going to presume you have a 'bent' hypotenuse with a linear line of 12 units?)

sin(31)= (x/12) therefor 12*Sin(31)= 6.18 units


can also use (180-90-31)= 59 for missing angle. thus Cos(59)=(X/12) therefor 12cos(59)= 6.18 units

all assuming angle was given in degrees.


could also do law of sines or cosines.

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

Only one angle is neccessary. And lol I drew that on my phone. What you do is sin(31) = x over 12. Multiply both sides by 12... 12*sin31= 6.18

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

3 4 5 :D
i.e. the long leg would be 5. if the 3 and 4 side make a perfect 90.
the 31 degree leg would be longer than the other.
side x should be 10.
unless im just jacked tonight.
thats not the way they want you to do it though.

That only works in pythagorean triples...

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

oh waint thats not right either because its a 31 degree angle, but if its 31 then the other cannot be 90 degrees!
they thought of my rule. those cheaters!
perhaps this would help Trigonometric Identities and Formulas

How so? If one is 31, and the other is 90, then the unmeasured one is 59, and yes, all in degrees.

 

[nixer]

How so? If one is 31, and the other is 90, then the unmeasured one is 59, and yes, all in degrees.

doh they changed the length of both legs. see like i said i might be off abit

 

[flsalty]

I am astounded there has been this much inconsistency amongst R2R reefers... you're a smart bunch, by in large... So what the heck?! lol

The equation is ambiguous. There is no correct answer.

 

[Velcro]

Kinda seems like the equation is written in a way to cause confusion and to serve as a medium for argument. Seems like brackets should have been used but then how could people nerd out

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

Wait how is it meant to be written? Is the 9+3 in the denominator? If not than its 288, if so its 2.

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

When I see equations like the one above, I read and treat it as a fraction with 2(9+3) being the denominator and 48 the numerator. Therefore the answer would be 2.

48÷2(9+3) is a totally different problem and would work out to 288....

 

[Brew12]

I don't even know what to believe in anymore really. I'll stick to 2, ty.

Talking about bringing an old thread back!

The truth is that both answers are correct. The real problem isn't in the answer but the question.

An equivalent statement in English would go along these lines.

The ball hit the bat and it broke.
The bat hit the ball and it broke.

Well, what broke? The bat or the ball? We have no way of knowing what the person who wrote the statements was trying to say.

In the case of this math question we don't know if the (9+3) was intended to be in the numerator or denominator. The way the equation is written it could be either.

 

[XNavyDiver]

Here's my opinion:

The equation should look like this if written out;

48
-------- = 2
2(9+3)

 

[ChrisOFL]

PEMDAS had more rules than what they originally taught you. You do what's inside the parentheses first and then outside. (9+3) = (12) and 48/2 = 24. Then you will multiply them together because you are left with 24(12) = 288. Simple!