I confess that when I first saw this simple-seeming equation I shrugged. So easy a child can do it. Easy as pie. If you’re like me, you’re going to be in for a rude awakening and wind up scratching your head and completely flummoxed. Yep, we’ve been doing our math wrong all these years. Remember “Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally”? It’s a mnemonic for remembering Parenthesis, Multiply, Exponents,
Divide, Add, Subtract (PEMDAS), known in fancy terms as the order of operations. PEMDAS can be very handy when you’re trying make complicated-looking math problem as as simple as 1, 2, 3.
Now try to solve the equation…
What answer did you get? If you came up with “1” like me and a zillion other folks you’re in for a shock. It’s time to forget some of what you learned about math in grade school.
Don’t blame your teachers. They weren’t wrong, just a product of their time.
Seems our dear Aunt Sally needs a little nip and tuck, and we can blame it on the advent of modern typesetting, scientific calculators and that hunk of glowing plastic you’re looking at right now, also called a computer.
Watch this short and straightforward video to get schooled in the finer points of PEMDAS. You’ll instantly reeducate yourself and catch up with your kids and grandkids. Trust me, it could save you from embarrassing befuddlement and headaches down the road.
And you can turn the tables on your math genius pals with your newfound knowledge.
