Whats the answer to this maths question?

[Herr Tubthumper]

Er, 6. Whats the catch?

There isn't, but it foxes a few people apparently. I remember seeing an article on arithmetic levels in the UK and this was a question set to the public and a surprising number of people got it wrong.

 

[KZNSeagull]

There isn't, but it foxes a few people apparently. I remember seeing an article on arithmetic levels in the UK and this was a question set to the public and a surprising number of people got it wrong.

Not surprised really. My son is doing fractions and BODMAS at school at the moment, and it is amazing how much one forgets when you don't use it.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

The questions should be given to Harry Redknapp and his accountant. I bet he'd answer zero to most of them.

 

[Stoo82]

The answer is 1.

40 + 40 = 80

80 x 0 = 0

0 + 1 = 1

 

[Fef]

The answer is 1.

40 + 40 = 80

80 x 0 = 0

0 + 1 = 1

Er No. It's 41. The expression isn't evaluated left to right, but - as previous posters have indicated - by using the mathematical order of operations which can be expressed by the mnemonic BODMAS, in which multiplication/division is evaluated before addition/subtraction. See Order of Operations - BODMAS

40 + 40 x 0 + 1 becomes
40 + 0 + 1
= 41

 

[Djmiles]

41. Anyone who thinks it's anything else needs to go back to school!

40
+
40 x 0
+
1

= 41.

 

[CheeseRolls]

I think what Mr Ace is saying is this:
it takes 7 plates to make 1 plate.
You then put that 1 plate back in the pile to make more plates (so your pile has gone down by 7 to 588, plus the one you have just made makes 589), so you are only effectively using 6 plates at a time to make 1 plate.
Do that until you run out of plates and you have made 99 plates.
The question says how many can be MADE, not how many will you end up with at the end.

Or it might be something completely different.

Nope even with this workaround it doesn't work for me.

595/7=85
85/7=12 r1
Total plates made =97

 

[8ace]

Nope even with this workaround it doesn't work for me.

595/7=85
85/7=12 r1
Total plates made =97

595/7 = 85, 85/7 =12 r 1, 13/7 = 1 r 6, 7/7 = 1 + remainder = 1 more. 85 + 12 + 1 + 1 = 99

 

[KZNSeagull]

595/7 = 85, 85/7 =12 r 1, 13/7 = 1 r 6, 7/7 = 1 + remainder = 1 more. 85 + 12 + 1 + 1 = 99

85 + 12 + 1 + 1 = 99 (with 1 plate left)

Just making it clearer for Mr Rolls!

 

[drew]

There is nothing worrying.

Most people don't know a mathematical convention such as BODMAS. As a result, quite understandably and in a reasoned way, most people apply a convention of 'left to right' that is commonly used and works for other tasks in their lives.

Whilst I am no mathematical genius, I do understand how the answer of 41 has been arrived at by applying BODMAS or BIDMAS or whatever. However, can any of the mathematical experts give an explanation why you apply BODMAS in the first place. I fully appreciate that if brackets are in a sum then you do the sum in the brackets first but for the life of me I cannot understand why you would start a sum halfway through. Logic suggests you do start from left to right!!!!

 

[KneeOn]

Actually BODMAS works like this

Brackets are done first
Orders are done second
Division and Multiplication are the same precedence and are done in order from left to right
Addition and Subtraction are of the same precedence and are done in order from left to right.

At least that is what my Maths lecturer tells me.

So the answer is 40 x 0 since multiplication is the highest ordered operation, followed by the addtion of the 40 that wasn't multiplied and 1. 41.

 

[skipper734]

According to Wiki multiplication is first because people agreed it should be first. So the usual committee compromise.

 

[drew]

According to Wiki multiplication is first because people agreed it should be first. So the usual committee compromise.

So there is in fact no logical reason for it.

 

[skipper734]

So there is in fact no logical reason for it.

Presumable these people were Mathematicians, Maybe Newton or Halley and putting the stuff in strict order made sense to them. Like driving on the left, other countries used different ideas.
Mathematics is a language and has to have rules as any language does. Lets blame it on Newton he has previous as does Leonardo.

 

[Triggaaar]

Causing a bit of a stir on facebook

40 + 40 x 0 + 1=

i answered 1 but being told i am wrong it seems.

What is the answer?

It's 41

 

[Falkor]

It's 41

100% Agree, but my family dont lol, i even showed them this thread

 

[CheeseRolls]

Remainder 1 means you could make 1/7 of a plate twice over. You can't add those on. Nice bit of double accounting.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk

 

[Skint Gull]

41. Anyone who thinks it's anything else needs to go back to school!

40
+
40 x 0
+
1

= 41.

This was a very shitty question if someone was trying to be clever and see who actually knows/remembers BODMAS. Now I hear about it i do remember it so although like Drew I can't see a proper valid reason for it, I can accept that I was wrong in saying the answer was 1 according to those rules.

What pisses me off about this question was the fact that people can get it right just be getting lucky as per the above way of working it out! Even if you didn't know about BODMAS the above calculation is clearly wrong yet people who worked it out like this actually still got the answer right!

 

[catfish]

Actually BODMAS works like this

Brackets are done first
Orders are done second
Division and Multiplication are the same precedence and are done in order from left to right
Addition and Subtraction are of the same precedence and are done in order from left to right.

At least that is what my Maths lecturer tells me.

So the answer is 40 x 0 since multiplication is the highest ordered operation, followed by the addtion of the 40 that wasn't multiplied and 1. 41.

How long has this been in use? I passed maths O'level in 1980 & have to confess to not remembering ever hearing about BODMAS.

 

[perseus]

Order of operations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia