Quote:
Originally Posted by MoonlitSunshine
Because it's all very well to say that, but there's absolutely no guarantee that the person you're communicating with feels the same way... as is evident from this thread.
|
So you want people to just throw out well established math principles because they "feel" like it? Bottom line, you do it the way oojay did it and you wouldn't be taken seriously in the math community, you'd get the question wrong on a test, etc. Because the math community abides by some universal guidelines where parentheses are assumed, or not assumed depending on the situation. And it's a matter of learning when they're necessary
Solving it oojay's way is the equivalent of putting a period in the middle of a sentence; no one's stopping you from doing it. But the rules that govern basic math that were established to keep a standard would say it's incorrect. You don't get to choose how a problem's solved if it breaks the rules of math laid down just because you feel like it. Unless you want the wrong answer, of course.