Can you solve this math problem?
- Thread starter Mrs. P
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This takes me back 50 years to algebra one.
It is possible that mathematicians agreed to change this convention since I took algebra, but
as this article says, we learned a mnemonic that scarred our brains for life:
http://www.algebra.com/algebra/homework/equations/order-of-operations5635.lesson
You use the order of operations you learned in algebra
Please Embalm My Dead Aunt Sally
Parantheses
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction
7+7 ÷ 7 +7 X 7 -7
has no parantheses
has no exponents
do the multiplication. 7x7 is 49
Then the division 7 ÷ 7 is 1
What you have now is
7+ 1 + 49 -7. Doing the addition you have 57-7
Do the subtraction and the answer is 50.
Now this is just a convention/rule, created so everyone can agree on the right answer when the person posing the problem has not had the good grace to put in parantheses
It is possible that mathematicians agreed to change this convention since I took algebra, but
as this article says, we learned a mnemonic that scarred our brains for life:
http://www.algebra.com/algebra/homework/equations/order-of-operations5635.lesson
You use the order of operations you learned in algebra
Please Embalm My Dead Aunt SallyParantheses
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction
7+7 ÷ 7 +7 X 7 -7
has no parantheses
has no exponents
do the multiplication. 7x7 is 49
Then the division 7 ÷ 7 is 1
What you have now is
7+ 1 + 49 -7. Doing the addition you have 57-7
Do the subtraction and the answer is 50.
Now this is just a convention/rule, created so everyone can agree on the right answer when the person posing the problem has not had the good grace to put in parantheses
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This takes me back 50 years to algebra one.
It is possible that mathematicians agreed to change this convention since I took algebra, but
as this article says, we learned a mnemonic that scarred our brains for life:
http://www.algebra.com/algebra/homework/equations/order-of-operations5635.lesson
You use the order of operations you learned in algebra
Aunt Sally is making me
Mnemonics I can deal with -- what scarred me for life was Algebra. Sure could have used a little help from Aunt Sally but my Alg I teacher was a bland, boring guy who wouldn't have been caught dead using something that funny!
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I was a English/History double major. Let's talk the history of publishing instead! 
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Perhaps you had the far less memorable mnemonic, Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally instead.
Or had an old calculator that used Reverse Polish Notation?
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_Polish_notation
Or Knew about Polish Notation
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_notation
Or knew the APL programming language
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/APL_(programming_language)
All of these handled order of operations (and defined operators) in unique ways.
Or had an old calculator that used Reverse Polish Notation?
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_Polish_notation
Or Knew about Polish Notation
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_notation
Or knew the APL programming language
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/APL_(programming_language)
All of these handled order of operations (and defined operators) in unique ways.
Last edited:
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Here you go, English majors. Punctuate this so that it makes sense.
that that is is that that is not is not is that it it is
I'll bite.
That that is is. That that is not is not. Is that it? It is.
(I was not an English major, so pls be kind.)
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I planned for years to major in English but detoured happily into Music. My suggestion would be to throw in a couple of commas:
That that is, is. That that is not, is not. Is that it? It is.
Having said that, something tells me I've seen this somewhere before... :think:
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Here you go, English majors. Punctuate this so that it makes sense.
that that is is that that is not is not is that it it is
New idea: I think the real issue is what the definition of "is" is.
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skatedreamer said:
IIRC this was used by the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides to prove that empty space cannot exist. Let's agree to take this as the definition of truth: to say that that that is is and to say that that that is not is not -- that is the truth. (It is?)
Well, "Nothing" is "that that is not." Therefore "nothing" is not. That is, empty space cannot exist.
Is that it? It is! ΟΕΔ
That's a wonderful old sentence puzzle. It does sound like a conundrum from the Renaissance or sometime near there, doesn't it? It also sounds like the motto of my grad school, which in Welsh is Nid byd byd heb wybodeth (I may have misspelled this!), which means "Nothing that is is without knowledge."
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I was a English/History double major. Let's talk the history of publishing instead!
Me, too. Plus Secondary Ed. Plus Language Arts concentration. I had 3.5 majors. That was not sane. And I can't do math.
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Forgive me for being a curmudgeon, but to me, leaving out the commas is a lesser evil.
I purposely had not added them, although I suppose an argument could be made that a departure from normal punctuation rules is tolerable because of the unusual repetition of words in the first two sentences. Just my two cents. (I do have some bkgd in book publishing, so discussions of grammar and style are of interest to me.)Loved Mathman's ΟΕΔ, which I had never seen in Greek.
And LOL, I did/do remember the order of operations, but must thank Doris for introducing me to Aunt Sally. Had never heard of her, but she must be a friend of Roy G. Biv.
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She is a friend of Roy's. And also of the Oscar of whom it was said by some wise person, "Oscar Had A Hunk Of ***."
Or if you are more teen-appropriate, A Heap Of Apples.
And Roy is also more closely akin to Violet whose reputation was, "Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly. Get Some Now."
Or if you are more teen-appropriate, A Heap Of Apples.
And Roy is also more closely akin to Violet whose reputation was, "Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly. Get Some Now."
I love Roy G. Biv as a mnemonic. Imagine the illustrations one could do of Mr. Biv!
(I majored in Medieval Studies. They never figured out what department I belonged to. It was a joint major but not a double major, I think.)
On another topic, I'm getting my yearly dose of gooseflesh because they're playing the movie 1776 on TV to honor July 4, and they've just reached the scene where everyone signs the Declaration of Independence. It's so effective, with the tolling of a bell and the men taking the pose of the famous painting of the scene. Then the frame freezes, and the Declaration itself is juxtaposed over the signers. Happy Fourth to all who celebrate it.
(I majored in Medieval Studies. They never figured out what department I belonged to. It was a joint major but not a double major, I think.)
On another topic, I'm getting my yearly dose of gooseflesh because they're playing the movie 1776 on TV to honor July 4, and they've just reached the scene where everyone signs the Declaration of Independence. It's so effective, with the tolling of a bell and the men taking the pose of the famous painting of the scene. Then the frame freezes, and the Declaration itself is juxtaposed over the signers. Happy Fourth to all who celebrate it.
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