E: 17/01 ? Win 1 of 10 Endor Forest 3 season sleeping bags (FB)

*KatieL*

http://endorforest.co.uk/competition

pate-ci0

I'm going to love watching what people put as an answer for this amazingly complex and difficult 'MATHS' question!

(Personally, I make it to be 25.) No it's not.

Edited: Woo, so far the majority are saying 16,17, 60 or 70. The answer is definitely NOT any of those.

Edited again: Sorry, not 25, should be 15. (Note to self, READ THE QUESTION!) See below.

Car73

I agree with 25

Tent =10
Bag = 5
Tree =2

5+2 x 10 (multiplication comes before addition)

yourgrace1234

5+2= 7 x 10 = 70 or it did at the school I went to, why only 1 tree where is the little one?

pate-ci0

yourgrace1234 wrote: »

5+2= 7 x 10 = 70 or it did at the school I went to

No, sorry, you may have misunderstood what the teachers were explaining (I am giving the benefit of the doubt to the teachers, who may not have had a proper understanding of what is now called BODMAS themselves!).

There can only be one answer to a simple arithmetic problem like this. Otherwise planes would fall out of the sky and nothing would work. In more complex maths, with squares and other things, there may be more than one answer, but not simple arithmetic.

There is a priority which must be applied and that is:

IF there are brackets, do the stuff in the brackets first; if no brackets ignore this bit.
IF there are ordinals ie squares or cubes etc, do these next; if none of them, ignore this.
IF there are Divisions or Multiplications, do these next, doesn't matter which is first; if none of them, ignore this bit.
LASTLY do any additions and/or subtractions, again no particular order.

Folk argue that if there are no brackets, you simply calculate from left to right, which in the above example would give you 70. This is NOT true. Even if there are no brackets, the priority still applies - you must assume brackets around the multiplication and do that first, BEFORE the addition, ie if no brackets ignore that bit but carry on down the list.

So, the answer is 25. OOPS no it's not, it's 15!

Edited: Drat! Well spotted YourGrace! there are four trees not two in the third line! GAH, all wrong. Should be:

Tent = 10
Bag = 5
Tree = 1

So:
5 + 1 x 10 = 15

Red face, burning bright....

tubbyj

Only one large tree in the sum.
If the trees were the same size I would argue that tree represents 1, which is what I have seen in other examples like this

pate-ci0

tubbyj wrote: »

Only one large tree in the sum.
If the trees were the same size I would argue that tree represents 1, which is what I have seen in other examples like this

I would agree that the tree is equal to 1 and must assume that on the third line there are four, equal, trees. I had thought that maybe the small tree was worth half a big tree, but then 1.5 trees + 1.5 trees = 4 which gives a value of 1.333333333 for a tree and I don't thing they are trying to be that subtle. Just my opinion, though.

yourgrace1234

yes I understand its right to left now I know thanks guys

serenity2012

It is a very simple maths equation that could of been explained in two sentences with one of them simply pointing out there are 4 trees not two. Was there really any need for the long drawn out and patronising self absorbed posts by Pate?

tubbyj

serenity2012 wrote: »

It is a very simple maths equation that could of been explained in two sentences with one of them simply pointing out there are 4 trees not two. Was there really any need for the long drawn out and patronising self absorbed posts by Pate?

Pate gave an answer, Car 23 confirmed with working out, yopugrace12 told them they had done it wrong. The impassioned response is all about the set order you have to do mathematical operations. Seems fine to me.

ginsterman

Surely the answer is 15, Tree = 1 Ten =10 and the other thing is 5 so the equation is now 5+1*10 or 5+(1*10) = 15.