MSU Red Cedar Message Board

(48/a)(9+3) is how anyone going left to right reads it. (48/a)*12 = 576/a

What kind of math recommends using algebra to do arithmetic?

I think this pretty much sums up this thread...

It is implied, because as written, 2(9+3) is a complete expression. We don't need to see them to understand what the complete expression is.

Would you need outer parentheses to solve 2(9+3) by itself? Of course not.

Where is this rule about implied grouping by adjacence to parentheses? Please point us to it.

2(9+3) is not the denominator. 2 is the denominator, If it were (2(9+3)) THEN it would be the denominator.

There are no such thing as implied parentheses. They are either there, or they are not there. That's the nice thing about mathematics FFS.

Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.... that's a tough one. But I'll take a shot.

Say I'm working at N.S.A. and somebody puts a code on my desk, something no one else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East, and once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hidin'- fifteen hundred people that I never met, never had no problem with get killed.

Now the politicians are sayin', oh, "Send in the marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot, just like it wasn't them when their number got called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie over there, takin' shrapnel in the ass; he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from, and the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks.

Meanwhile he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so that we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price, and of course the oil companies use the little skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices- a cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. They're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, o' course, maybe they even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis an' fuckin' play slalom with the icebergs; it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic.

So now my buddy's outta work, he can't afford to drive, so he's walkin' to the fuckin' job interviews, which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids, and meanwhile he's starvin' 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat, the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State.

So what did I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure fuck it, while I'm at it, why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected President.

Ohh and the answer is 288.

I'm having trouble deciphering this statement. Are you implying:

a) high school teachers don't actually think they know math
b) high school teachers don't actually know math?

In either case, I don't think I agree with you.

37

in a row

Wow, that's so much more then 6 in a row.

I think the moral of the story is, learn to write your fucking equations properly so we don't have this problem

In Windows, click the start button and type 'character map' into search. It will give you the Alt+ #### for shit loads of characters and symbols

Algebraic principles do not apply to arithmetic. To solve algebra, you go through the opposite of the order of operations.

The problem you solved for me was an algebra problem! Yet you still solved it using OoO....