PEMDAS is technically correct, but morally wrong - eviltoast

If we’re supposed to be able to understand math as easily as a language, we should be able to read it from left to right like a language.
Yes, I know there’s lots other languages that go right to left or top to bottom, but the point is you don’t have to go jumping around the page or sentence figuring out which word should be read first based on which characters it contains.
We put the first word first, then the second word second, etc.
Why can’t we just write equations in the order they were meant to be solved?

  • droning_in_my_ears@lemmy.world
    21·
    9 months ago

    Morally wrong? What does morality have to do with any of this?

    This is a matter of conventions. Which way we do it doesn’t actually matter that much as long as we all agree on a way. Maybe you think PEMDAS is counterintuitive, maybe others disagree. That doesn’t make it morally wrong.

  • db2@lemmy.world
    221·
    9 months ago

    Some of you have never read a Choose Your Own Adventure book and it shows.

  • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
    19·
    9 months ago

    Is it just me or people actually writing and using math daily never complain about this stuff? Only “it’s been a while I forgot the rules” crowd.

  • Victoria@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    19·
    9 months ago

    Reverse Polish Notation works almost like you describe. You put the operands first, then the operation. For example:

    • 3 + 4 --> 3 4 +
    • 3 • (5 + 2) --> 5 2 + 3 •

    Probably the reason why we are not using it is because most tools today use algebraic notation, and it would be a lot of effort to switch

    • Shurimal@kbin.social
      3·
      9 months ago

      Best system for calculators IMO. Especially if you need to add many numbers together (eg doing price calculations)—just enter all the numbers to the register, double-check for errors, then add together. Way less error prone than traditional calculators.

  • Haus@kbin.social
    141·
    9 months ago

    PEMA is technically correct. Division and subtraction are illusions.

  • Ashy@lemmy.wtf
    8·
    9 months ago

    Why can’t we just write equations in the order they were meant to be solved?

    I mean, you can. No one is stopping you.

  • pruwyben@discuss.tchncs.de
    5·
    9 months ago

    My guess is that in real world applications, it makes more sense to think about things in terms of multiplying values together and then adding the total. Like if you have a list of products, with prices and quantities for each, to get the total value you multiply each quantity by its price and then add them all together.

  • olorin99@kbin.earth
    4·
    9 months ago

    Yes having equations written in a more straightforward way might make it easier for laypeople to understand but I think that the people who use their head for anything more complicated than a+b and don’t just use a calculator can probably figure it out fine.

    • olorin99@kbin.earth
      13·
      9 months ago

      Also don’t understand the “morally wrong” argument. Just because something is slightly more complicated than it could be doesn’t make it “morally wrong”.

  • livus@kbin.social
    4·
    9 months ago

    Could you give an example of how you think it should be written? I’m having trouble envisaging it.

  • limitedduck@awful.systems
    4·
    9 months ago

    Not all equations have a solution right away. PEMDAS, or BEDMAS as I was taught, helps you navigate these novel equations. It’s a natural way to think when exploring problems outside of a textbook.

  • ElectroVagrant@lemmy.world
    41·
    9 months ago

    A more fun variation on this would be to contest mathematical notation. PEMDAS is one thing, but mathematical notation? Not only might you get lost in the order of operations, now you’re lucky if you can even read it without committing yourself to the maths cubicles.

    Yeah, they don’t get dungeons, they get cubicles because it’s a geometrically appropriate hell.