MoonlitSunshine

It only works out as 9 doing the multiplication first if you assume that there are parentheses around the (6/2).

In order to get any one, unique answer, you have to add one set of parentheses:

(6/2)*(1+2) = 9
6/(2*(1+2)) = 1

There are your two choices. I will add that Google gives the 9 answer because calculators, indeed all computer programs, are designed to evaluate from left to right in the absence of proper syntax, similar to how you can figure out what someone is saying even if they have atrocious spelling. Doesn't make their spelling any more correct, though. I will also point out that if you put the equation into Google, it adds a pair of parentheses in the position it is assuming you mean due to your incorrect syntax:



if you break the equation down into a, b and c, to represent the parts which there is argument about, it's a lot easier to see what's going on. In the following, a=6, b=2, and c=(1+2):

a/b*c = ... ?

Now, one interesting thing worth noting is that Canwllcorfe, among others, has chosen to see this as (a*c)/b, which is interesting as it totally changes the order. It is however equivalent to (a/b)*c, which is one solution to the problem, so it's fine as an answer, but it just goes to show that "left to right" isn't always even correct, as you can manipulate such an ambiguous statement to have the inverse order of operations.

Your choice, however, boils down to (a/b)*c or a/(b*c). If you substitute back in the values, you will (hopefully) note that this equals 9 and 1 respectively.

Do you still feel that the "parentheses or lack thereof makes no difference"?

__________________
"I found it eventually, at the bottom of a locker in a disused laboratory, with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard". Ever thought of going into Advertising?"

- Arthur Dent