Commenting on the math bit, I’ve always found “order of operation” problems to be stupid and not nearly as clever as some treat them. Order of operations is one of the few things in math that seems like math but really isn’t. It’s a convention that says if you see these two operations in the same equation, this is the order you do them in. Math is only useful in context and that context is what determines what order the operations should be in, regardless of any conventions. BEDMAS is only useful because it starts with B, and B can make all the rest irrelevant.
Like if you are putting together 50 snack packs and originally start with 3 grapes but have a bunch left over and want to see if you can add 2 more grapes to each pack, you gotta add the 3 and 2 before you multiply the 50, otherwise your result will be useless. Understanding that is far more useful than basically knowing math convention trivia.
I did a math-heavy degree (CS) and the only time I can remember any reference to order of operations was in a compiler class, when talking about how to make write the compiler such that it obeys the order of operations and maybe a reference in physics classes, since physics is very heavy on math word problems.
But so many people waste time arguing about it on fb, as if it matters. Though it can be fun to watch and see some of the crazier answers.
Edit: had a reference to a line I removed, removed the reference.
Commenting on the math bit, I’ve always found “order of operation” problems to be stupid and not nearly as clever as some treat them. Order of operations is one of the few things in math that seems like math but really isn’t. It’s a convention that says if you see these two operations in the same equation, this is the order you do them in. Math is only useful in context and that context is what determines what order the operations should be in, regardless of any conventions. BEDMAS is only useful because it starts with B, and B can make all the rest irrelevant.
Like if you are putting together 50 snack packs and originally start with 3 grapes but have a bunch left over and want to see if you can add 2 more grapes to each pack, you gotta add the 3 and 2 before you multiply the 50, otherwise your result will be useless. Understanding that is far more useful than basically knowing math convention trivia.
I did a math-heavy degree (CS) and the only time I can remember any reference to order of operations was in a compiler class, when talking about how to make write the compiler such that it obeys the order of operations and maybe a reference in physics classes, since physics is very heavy on math word problems.
But so many people waste time arguing about it on fb, as if it matters. Though it can be fun to watch and see some of the crazier answers.
Edit: had a reference to a line I removed, removed the reference.