PEMDAS? WTF?
I've just learned that some folk were taught this mnemonic, interpreting it to mean that multiplication and division (and addition and subtraction) are distinct steps in solving a math problem.
Honestly, this is my first ever encounter with such an acronym. From as early as I can remember, multiplication and division were opposite sides of the same coin. Same for addition/subtraction.
Are folk actually being taught that either side of the coin takes precedence over the other?
Seriously, now that I'm googling this, I'm coming across page after page saying "you learned it in elementary school" or "we all remember from math class" or whatnot, all claiming it goes back centuries.
I attended several different elementary schools as a child. Not one of them ever used this acronym, nor the "Aunt Sally" mnemonic supposedly used to remember it.
It's like I've fallen into an alternate universe where this is common knowledge but in my universe it never happened. HAALP!?!
@beadsland I'd never heard of it before I found it on the internet
@lizardsquid Supposedly it's BEMDAS or some such (brackets rather than parentheses) in some corners. That is, if we're to believe the google search result that all claim it goes back a century or more.
Thank you for verifying that I'm not alone in never having heard of it.