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25 Apr 2017, 18:15
Kudos
Bookmarks
I always get confuse with the rule for this expression.
3(4-2) / 2 =
I always come up with 9 because I follow the distributive property.
= 3(4-2) / 2
= 12- 6 / 2
=12 - 3
= 9
I find that the correct solution should be:
= 3 (4-2) / 2
= 3(2) / 2
= 6 / 2
= 3
Can you help me guys to explain why the expression come up with different result when I apply distributive property?
3(4-2) / 2 =
I always come up with 9 because I follow the distributive property.
= 3(4-2) / 2
= 12- 6 / 2
=12 - 3
= 9
I find that the correct solution should be:
= 3 (4-2) / 2
= 3(2) / 2
= 6 / 2
= 3
Can you help me guys to explain why the expression come up with different result when I apply distributive property?
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25 Apr 2017, 19:09
Kudos
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nadperona
Well, we learnt this simplification by BODMAS, which is similar to PEMDAS. The problem is you need to first simplify what is inside the bracket first.
In your case, the numerator as a whole is one expression which is divided by 2. So, always imagine it this way:
3(4-2)/2 is the same as (3(4-2))/2
The reason why you might get it confused is because of the way it is written. If you actually convert it to a mathematical expression, then it would be:
\(\frac{(3(4-2))}{2}\)
which has no ambiguity.
Hope this helps.
25 Apr 2017, 19:49
Kudos
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nadperona
First, you need to understand the order of operations in Maths
Here is the order of operations with some common operations.
1. Bracket
() [] {}
2. Power
^
3. Multiplication/Division
* /
4. Addition/Subtraction
+ -
Hence, with your question, first you need to calc the sub-expression inside the bracket: \(4-2=2\)
Now, the expression becomes \(3*2/2\)
The multiplication and division sign have the same order, so you just calc the expression from left to right.
\(3*2/2=6/2=3\)
From your way \(3(4-2)/2 = 3 * 4 - 3 * 2 / 2 = 12 - 6 / 2\) is wrong, because you left out the bracket and change the orginial order of the given expression.
To left out bracket, you need to come up with this way
\(3(4-2)/2 = (3*4-3*2)/2 = (12 - 6)/2 = 3\)
We could have \(3(4-2)=3*4-3*2\) because we have a rule calls Multiplication Properties. That is \(a*(b+c)=a*b+a*c\).
