Can I get your input on the answer to this problem circulating fakebook.. I have my opinion but I wanna make sure I'm right: 
RE: Math Problem Most People Get Wrong! See if you can solve it!
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Math Problem Most People Get Wrong! See if you can solve it!
Distribute the 2(2+2) = 8 then 8/8 = 1; right? Or is it 16 as others are saying do to OO which seems wrong because to me 8/2x where x = 2+2 is 1 the same answer as you get if you distribute the 2 into the parentheses then solve.
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I would start with the (2+2)
Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication/Division, Addition/Subtraction.
8 / 2(2+2)
Parentheses work first: 2+2 = 4
8 / 2 (4)
Next, we take both multiplication and division as we come across them, from left to right: 8 / 2 = 4
4 (4) = 16
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But don't you distribute the 2 into the parentheses before beginning it? thus making it 4+4 = 8 then 8/8 = 1? This is the debate everyone is having on fakebook..
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Sure, while you could distribute, but that's over-complicating the plumbing, as it were, and the distributive property really should only apply when there are variables involved. Otherwise, the work needs to be simplified. Before PEMDAS is applied, all like terms that can be combined and simplified must be combined and simplified.
The technical argument: you're not just distributing the 2, but the whole of "8 / 2".
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