[Misc] Bodmas

[Guinness Boy]

The order of calculation is fixed and been around for a long time. I have a Maths degree from before spreadsheets were around so it definitely isn't a modern things.

And your missus is catastrophically wrong. You should tell her so. Let us know how that goes.

I think this is why I started the thread. I may have to be cooped up with her for a couple of months. I may just go into the back room and shove the x-box on.

 

[Acker79]

I am perplexed. The term Bodmas rings bells with me, but I have no recollection of being taught calculation orders. And since we're noting our levels of learning, A-level maths (pure and stats), plus a module of statistical analysis on my degree course (I got over 90% on that module).

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

At what stage? I use it quite regularly, which is why I know I'm correct but she insists she's never heard of it. How the frick do you get an A if you're applying the operational order wrongly? Maybe she just got quadratic equations

Hmmm. I can’t remember exactly when but it must have been quite early; it’s a basic principle. Maybe she learnt it but forgot? She got an A so she was clearly doing some things right.

 

[Ooh it’s a corner]

I

One for the nerds and mathematicians out there.

Simple equation. 20+4x4

Deliberately no brackets. Type that with an = in front in Excel and you get what it, to me, the correct answer, 36. Mrs GB insists it is 96 because that's what you get when you type it into a calculator - obviously this is because the calculator is doing one sum after the other and you HAVE to use the brackets to define operational order on a calculator.

The issue being she says she was never taught this at school and has an A in her O Level Maths and I'm pretty sure I wasn't either.

So, the question is, when did BODMAS come in and is it a hard and fast rule? Or a modern concept that relates to spreadsheets and calculators? Or am I either a) too old to remember or b) taught with outdated methods? Son was apparently learning it in year 7 so maybe those GCSEs aren't so noddy.

BTW this also extends to English. I was certainly never taught what a "fronted adverbial" was and yet it's one of the things I have to help my daughter with during the lockdown.

Now BODMAS has been clarified for those who needed it we should address the issue of fronted adverbials. What a load of ********! It reflects one of the more recent ludicrous moves by people who should know better. I have an A-level in English, was a teacher for 39 years and a HT for 29 of those. I never used that phrase in all those years and nor do we need to teach it to kids now. BODMAS is essential, the other is not!

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Is BIDMAS a recognised thing or have I made it up?

The “l” stands for indices I think.

 

[Eeyore]

At what stage? I use it quite regularly, which is why I know I'm correct but she insists she's never heard of it. How the frick do you get an A if you're applying the operational order wrongly? Maybe she just got quadratic equations

Mrs G is correct. For it to be 36 the 4x4 needs to be (4x4).

20+(4x4) is the answer to the amount of range rovers I drove past on their school run in the local countryside.

 

[Shuggie]

Bomdas. It's Bomdas.

It was a hard and fast rule tought to me in 1970, by Maths teacher Mr Thomas*, oddly (I just added Rod Thomas to the sicknote thread) so it must be true.

Jack Liddell was teaching it as BODMAS in 1971 and warned us not to pay any attention to the hereticThomas if we wanted even the most modest success in life.

 

[jonny.rainbow]

The O can be said to stand for ordinals or orders.

There’s also PEDMAS where the P stands for parentheses.

In fact most equations use parentheses rather than brackets when they are written.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Jack Liddell was teaching it as BODMAS in 1971 and warned us not to pay any attention to the hereticThomas if we wanted even the most modest success in life.

Hope you're keeping well.

I was never overseen by Jack. But we did have the pleasure of Poxy Baxter. Parallel. "I always remember it as a sandwich". Only at a Grammar School would the maths teacher take pains to indoctrinate on spelling.

Grammar
Until
Immediate

What was the other word that would trigger a caning if spelled wrongly?

 

[Bodian]

Never heard of BODMAS.

I'm 55, relatively well educated, never had problems with maths or arithmetic - and I always thought that's what brackets were for. My answer would have been 96, but now I have looked up BODMAS I understand it's 36. But if you ask me the same question in a month's time, I'll probably say 36 again. You can't unlearn a lifetime of doing something that easily!

 

[Buffalo Seagull]

Is BIDMAS a recognised thing or have I made it up?

The “l” stands for indices I think.

You are correct, and BIDMAS is certainly the way it is taught in the school that I teach at.

 

[Brightonfan1983]

Try computer code. Multiply by 0 and you'll get a field filled with a 0. Divide by zero and the ****er will give you an error the size of Cuba and possibly self combust.

--Massive brackets around this side note--

If anyone's interested, there's a book called Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife, which is ridiculously readable and informative, about zero: its beginnings in Babylon (which, when you think about it, is an awfully long time for humans to have numbers but not have a concept of the number nought), how it evolved and crossed the globe, and what happens to warships' computer systems if a zero is lurking where it shouldn't in its weapons codes.)

 

[CiderBaz]

I'm a primary school teacher. Bodmas is now year 6 and fronted adverbials year 4. The world's gone crazy! They have to know whether it's : or ; between two main clauses (depending on whether the second clause explains the first or not) but still aren't told the tooth fairy doesn't exist.

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

 

[Madafwo]

I have a a Maths GCSE grade C and am fully aware of BODMAS. How are people not aware of it?

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

The Cat Sat
On An Orange
And Howled Horribly


Back of the net for tangents, sines and cosines

 

[father_and_son]

The Cat Sat
On An Orange
And Howled Horribly


Back of the net for tangents, sines and cosines

I learned Mice Nibble Every Morsel Of Nourishment In Cheese as a mnemonic to remember how to spell mnemonic.

 

[Invicta]

Is BIDMAS a recognised thing or have I made it up?

The “l” stands for indices I think.

Yep I remember Bodmas and Bidmas from the late 70's / early 80's

 

[OzMike]

The answer is 36.
I have always looked at mathematical problems as sentences in English, which actually works to find the answers.
In this case it is , what is twenty plus four times four ?
Looking at it like this the answer is obviously 36.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

I came up with 36. I'm sure I was learned to treat it regardless of brackets as two separate equations, 20 and 4x4.
A scary thought, I think I've still got a log table in the loft......where would that be put into practice in todays world?

 

[yxee]

Mrs G is correct. For it to be 36 the 4x4 needs to be (4x4).

20+(4x4) is the answer to the amount of range rovers I drove past on their school run in the local countryside.