Windows Calculator will give you both answers, as well. Start calculator, enter the equation as listed, and you'll get 1. Then switch to scientific mode (Alt-2), enter the same equation again, and you'll get 41. The first mode assumes every number you type is a new transaction (40+40=80, 80*0=0, 0+1=1) while the scientific mode waits until you enter the whole equation, then evaluates it as a whole, applying the PEMDAS rules. I thought that was neat.
Like I said.. I get the answer 41. I seen this on facebook.. got my answer of 41.. but the seen others answering with 1. So I google and was like dang... So I thought this would be neat to post on here to get our minds to working. I believe it's 41.
Unlike opinions and polls, Math is static. It never changes. As many have been saying, the order of operations are (have been and always will be) parentheses, exponents/roots (in order left to right), multiplication/division (in order left to right), addition/subtraction (in order left to right). There are cheap calculators out there (such as is available at the dollar store) which work simply left to right. Every math symbol internally does an equals. Proper calculators (such as the one that comes with Windows or Apple OS) will contain some method of utilizing parentheses. If you want to tell a good calculator from a poor (cheap-o) calculator, type in the following: 1 + 2 X 3 = If the answer is 9, it's a cheap-o. If the answer is 7, you've got a good calculator.
my 6th grader just brought that type problem home and was having me check his work. I said, "how do you know what goes 1st without the brakets?". I had totally forgotten the whole order thing until he told me.
I swear I don't remember learning the Order of Operations (PEMDAS) rule when I was growing up, thru high school, and up to my first few years of college. It wasn't until I went back to school a few years ago and had College Algebra (for the third time .. *cough*) that the teacher mentioned it. I was the only one in the class who didn't know what she was talking about. She used the "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" mnemonic, and I thought she was just weird!
And this proves why we are 48th in education. First of all , the division sign on a computer keyboard is a forward slash "/". You should have known that it was not a division sign just based on that. Now for the equation: 40 + 40 x 0 + 1 = ? As several have said, use the order of operations. Doing so makes it look like this: 40 + (40 x 0) + 1 = ? 40 + 0 + 1 = 41
Math is static in there are rules that never change. I don't give a flying fig who's out there coming up with alternative methods, they cannot change the existing rules. If they do, they are wrong. Not really smart, not geniuses, not even super intelligent. The rules exist and cannot be changed. This is not just me talking, this is the entire universe saying it. You will never hear a mathematician say, "Two plus two used to equal four, but I figured out a new math that will allow me to add two plus two and come up with five." Mathematics is absolute. This is "simple math" in as much as it uses the four most basic operators; add subtract, multiply, divide. Nothing more more nor anything less (well, no divide, but you know what I mean).
well alrighty then...I was doing long form. If you have an iPhone and do calculator. Holding it straight up is simple calc. Sideways is scientific. Just an FYI. Don't know what you use just throwing it out there.
Doesn't matter. Whether you do it long form, short form or counting fingers and toes. The answer of 41. I have an HTC/Android. Whether you turn it right side up, up side down, turn it left or right, it doesn't matter. Type in "40 + 40 x 0 + 1 =" the result will show 41. I can't vouch for a iPhone. Who knows what universe the Apple people live in (without maps, neither do they). For all I know an iPhone might show the answer as "Steve Jobs is Cool" or "Expect a lawsuit within two weeks"
I wasn't alive back in 1908, but I'm pretty sure they had parentheses back then. Doing some research, I have read of parentheses being used as far back as the sixteenth century (ref). Now, if you're going to talk about ancient mathematics, would you care to suggest that, because roman numerals did not include a zero, back then a number multiplied by zero did not equal zero?
