The Great Math Debate: PEMDAS, Fractions, and Social Media Confusion
Introduction
Mathematics, a subject revered by some and feared by many, has recently found a curious battleground: social media. Platforms like Facebook are teeming with debates and discussions on how to solve specific math problems. One of the most contentious issues revolves around the correct order of operations, particularly involving multiplication and division. At the heart of this debate is the widespread misunderstanding of the acronym PEMDAS, which stands for Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction.
The PEMDAS Conundrum
PEMDAS is commonly taught as a method to remember the order of operations. However, many people misinterpret it, thinking that Multiplication (M) should always precede Division (D). This misconception leads to a variety of incorrect solutions to seemingly straightforward problems. In reality, multiplication and division are on the same hierarchical level in the order of operations and should be performed from left to right as they appear in the equation.
A Simple Example
Let’s consider a simple example to illustrate this point: \(8 \div 2\).
