People have been left baffled at a maths question that some have said is ‘easy’, but many just can’t seem to come to the same conclusion thanks to tricky BIDMAS
Math questions are not for everyone, and some people will be left in cold sweats at the thought of answering one after years of having to answer problems in high school.
BIDMAS is something else that may stress people out. If you’re not familiar with it, BIDMAS is an acronym to help people remember the order of mathematical operations. BIDMAS standards for B-Brackets, I-Indices (powers/orders or roots), D-Division, M-Multiplication, A-Addition, S-Subtraction.
BIDMAS questions can often be baffling, and on X, formerly Twitter, one user challenged people to solve a really tricky problem – and nobody could decide what the right answer was.
The ‘viral math problem’ was asked in 2020, and has racked up thousands of comments as it asks people to solve: 6÷2(1+2)=
The problem is no one can agree on whether the answer is 1 or 9, with both sides claiming “you’re an idiot” if you don’t agree with their solution. Those who say the answer is 9 argue you should tackle the equation by solving the brackets (1+2=3) and multiplying it by 6÷2 (also 3). 3×3=9.
But others say it should be completed by solving the brackets (1+2=3) and multiplying it by 2 (3×2=6). That leaves 6÷6=1. Both sides even attempted to argue that their logic followed the rules of BIDMAS and the other didn’t, and some people couldn’t believe that some people were arguing over this.
Someone wrote: “WTF is wrong with the UK, BIDMAS is trending on a Saturday and it’s a blinking maths question!”
Another attempted to act as a peacemaker to explain the answer could be either 1 or 9, writing: “The problem is inherently ambiguous and there’s no convention that produces a definitive answer, BIDMAS or no BIDMAS. It needs to be rephrased as (6÷2)(1+2) OR 6÷(2(1+2)) or there’s no right answer.”
What answer did you get? Let us know in the comments.
