I’m a writer so hating maths is part of by DNA. I didn’t love it in primary school, I didn’t love it in high school, and it still gives me the sweats as an adult.
Most of my maths knowledge evaporated into thin air the second I put the pencil down in my final high school exam, but there’s some random tethers of mathematical knowledge hanging onto my brains cells.
For example, BODMAS: Brackets Of Addition Multiplication Addition and Subtraction.
In English: the order in which you need to complete things when presented with a basic math equation like this:
I was pretty chuffed with myself when I realised I remembered how to do this^. The answer is 16 – simple.
Here’s my working out (shoutout to my maths teacher):
But my elation didn’t last long because some people online reckon this ‘basic’ math equation actually has another answer: 1.
Twitter has erupted with arguments on both sides of the equation, if you will.
I am convinced that 16 is the one and only correct answer. So convinced, in fact, that I argued with my colleagues for five minutes about how wrong they are (yes, they think the answer is 1) and proceeded to explain BODMAS to them (see above) with the most passion I’ve ever displayed about maths.
I’m right. But I’m also wrong. Because, the answer people get when completing the equation comes down to what they were taught in school.
Yep, the maths for both answers checks out.
This is just proof that there is actually no logic to maths and we should all give up now and become novelists.