What is with people posting stupid 'order of operations' math questions on Facebook

[Tiltsta]

I don't get why people seem to post these stupid 'order of operations' math problems on Facebook. It is like 5th grade all over again.

I just don't get what this is about, exactly. Are we all supposed to be amazed that you can remember parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction in that order? Please stop. I get that these contain operational ambiguities, but they are quite silly, and no one would actually write a mathematical operation like this. Again, stop.

 

[Alex W]

My favorites are "Share this if you love Jesus, ignore it if you want your grandma to get AIDS and die in a fire". (Of course the second part is a bit of hyperbole but you get the idea)

 

[reverend1]

The answer is 20, right? Now Im not sure......

 

[Lerxst]

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally still sticks w/ me to this day

 

[Tiltsta]

The answer is 20, right? Now Im not sure......

I'm pretty sure you have to solve for X.

And, yeah, the 'Repost/share if you love your daughter' is also stupid.

 

[SnarkAttack]

It's a way of harvesting names from comments and likes for the original poster, who will then attempt to use any public information you have decided to share to spam or scam you.

 

[Tralfaz]

I failed to answer that as well. I didn't get the wrong answer, I just failed to answer.

 

[CBHScott]

I don't get why people seem to post stupid shit on Facebook. It is like 5th grade all over again.

Fix'd to simplify the equation .

 

[GomezAddams]

They are phishing attempts. When you comment or like something, the original poster gets access to your profile information. ALmost no one on facebook realizes this.

 

[Punchy]

And a (not-so-surprising) number of people get them wrong. I think that might be sadder than the fact that nobody realizes that it's a phishing scam.

 

[wok]

It's a way of harvesting names from comments and likes for the original poster, who will then attempt to use any public information you have decided to share to spam or scam you.

this

 

[cuffdc]

I just don't get what this is about, exactly. Are we all supposed to be amazed that you can remember parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction in that order? Please stop. I get that these contain operational ambiguities, but they are quite silly, and no one would actually write a mathematical operation like this. Again, stop.

The math skills of many many many Americans (and I say Americans because we're primarily talking about those of us in the US of A...no criticism of the US in particular intended, OK?) are really substandard -- you probably lost half the general population when you mentioned "order of operations" in the thread title. But as others have said, these repetitive phenomena are phishing scams.

 

[2manband]

The answer is 20, right? Now Im not sure......

That's what I get.

 

[Prages]

I love the "Name a fish without the letter "A" in it. I bet you can't."

Ummm Trout, Pike, Grouper, Clownfish, etc, etc, etc.

Of course, I refuse to click on any of those things on FB since I'm sure it's just phishing.

 

[Prages]

I get 20 as well.

 

[Cool Earl]

I don't get why people seem to post these stupid 'order of operations' math problems on Facebook. It is like 5th grade all over again.

I just don't get what this is about, exactly. Are we all supposed to be amazed that you can remember parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction in that order? Please stop. I get that these contain operational ambiguities, but they are quite silly, and no one would actually write a mathematical operation like this. Again, stop.

So, you got it wrong. no big deal.