Terraria Community Forums

First we calculate the brackets: 8 ÷ 2 (4)
That can be restructured to 8 ÷ 2 * 4

And here is the issue. Both interpretations are technically correct.
I think you should do them in order, but both interpretations are valid, it's a common issue in maths if I'm not mistaken.

Travlordian01⚡️

@Sigmund Froid its more of a thing where it has to be stated if it is order of operations or not because math is like that, you can’t assume what it is you have to know what one it is
Edit: this is adding on I believe lol

Yello_X

I'm pretty sure you're supposed to do the operations inside parentheses first before doing the rest of the operation based on priority (aha PEMDAS)

Travlordian01⚡️

@Yello_X thats order of operations yes, but we aren’t told if it is order of operations or not hence the 2 answers lol

Yello_X

My math teachers always told us to assume that everything is done in PEMDAS so idk about that

Sigmund Froid

@Greybrynn That's kinda what I mean, but yeah... it's hard to say for sure. I base my interpretation of the fact that context is missing, and we don't know how the context of the second half is... There is a reason it's so divisive.

Champion Greninjoid

Pretty sure it’s 16 but eh

Sigmund Froid

To add to my previous points, did a little bit of research...
Stuff like PEMDAS doesn't really change anything here, because multiplication and division are equal operations, or rather, have equal priority.
Which leads us back to the question, do we just go left to right or is there some other reason to prioritize a different part of the calculation?

Travlordian01⚡️

@Sigmund Froid multipication comes before division in PEMDAS as I’ve learned it, order of operations goes in order of the letters
Edit: just stating what I’ve been told inside math classes

Sigmund Froid

@Greybrynn But that's the funny part, it doesn't.
Over here, we say "punkt vor strich" - "dot before line" (that's way too literal)
Basically, operations with dots (multiplication and division) comes before operations with a line (addition and subtraction)
No priority inside of these groups.

Sigmund Froid

Multiplication and Division (MD in PEMDAS) have equal rank in the order of operations and do not need to be in order. Addition and Subtraction (AS in PEMDAS) also have equal rank and do not need to be in order. You could, for example, subtract before you add. The reason they have equal rank or priority is because the operations are inverse or are compliments of each other.

Sigmund Froid

From: PEMDAS - Order of Operations

Sigmund Froid

So yeah, the Problem boils down to how we interpret the simplified term 8 ÷ 2 * 4...
(8 ÷ 2) * 4 = 16
or
8 ÷ (2 * 4) = 1
And we have no reason to assume either is right, except for "left to right" or similar arbitrary rules...

Sigmund Froid

That's why fractions are more common in maths than normal division, since fractions clearly establish a context for the division, clearly showing what is part of the division and what isn't...

Champion Greninjoid

At least how I learned it you go left to right with equations of equal priority.

Travlordian01⚡️

@Sigmund Froid wait ok know that probably is what I meant, I see the divide symbol rarely

Admiral Voidzuli'

Jackiethederg

It’s 1

Sigmund Froid

@Jabbahutt317 Why 8? Like, How did you get to that result?

JabbaD

Oh wait I did my math wrong, the answer is 16