Saw this posted on Twitter, math skills seem to be in decline. Most people said how the equation is read left to right, ignoring of coarse the old rule we learned in high school about the order of operations.
Simple equation I saw on Twitter
- Thread starter masterblaster
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So, 100% or respondents chose 1 of the 4 possibilities?
yes. The answer is 10, but was it a multiple choice question and this is all there was to choose from?
yes. The answer is 10, but was it a multiple choice question and this is all there was to choose from?
I believe it was taken from somewhere else and just this pic of results was posted on Twitter. So far as I know these were the 4 answers to pick from. Most people that replied to the tweet thought the answer was 16 anyway. Regular bunch of Einsteins.
I would say a person is just as dumb if they said 16 as any of the other wrong numbers.
If the generally accepted "order of operations" is followed, the correct answer is 10.
If the equation was written (2 + 2) x 4, then the answer would be 16.
If the equation was written (2 + 2) x 4, then the answer would be 16.
Don't be concerned. They represent job security for those of us who can actually do basic arithmetic.
Math skills being in decline is an understatement. I'm not sure how the next generations will even survive.
I was taught to remember "my dear aunt sally", that is multiple divide add subtract 
Got me through many tests!!!
Corym
Got me through many tests!!!
Corym
Have you not heard?
The Woke, the far left, and the SJWs are now claiming that math is racist, is not objective, and that getting the "right" answer is not that important.
Are we really going to make an inference that society is falling apart because of some anecdotal tweet that I can't even verify if it's real or only seen by idiots?
Every generation in history has had higher IQ than the previous generation, you can calm down.
Every generation in history has had higher IQ than the previous generation, you can calm down.
Huh? how is a simple math question racist!!! boy or boy, how times have changed
Right answer is not important, what!!! than all calculators should be wrong, 1+1 = 3
Corym
I read a book some years back called innumeracy mostly about mathematical illiteracy. forget most of it now but the author talked about his experience of being in a check out line one day. Someone ahead of him had bought 4 articles, forget what they were, but they were priced at 3 for 99 cents. The cashier could not figure how many 4 would be and neither could the next couple people in line. I believe he stepped up and told the cashier what the cost should be, but was baffled how hard people found to figure it out.
No, you cannot draw any conclusions from this. We don't know how many people knew the answer, but didn't find their choice. Maybe 1,000,000 people wanted to answer and only 100 were wrong, or misclicked, or answered as a joke.
Not knowing the context, one could consider it might be not a base-ten problem (where the answer is 10), but base-six (where 14 is the correct answer) or base-seven (where the answer is 13).
