People Are Divided Over This Viral Math Problem, Even Calculators Can’t Get It Right

Solving math problems may come naturally for many people, but for others, it’s confusing as heck! There’s never one rule to solving math problems as there are different formulas you need to apply before getting the right answer.

So, when a particular math problem went viral, netizens had different answers and explanations on how to solve it.

This equation might look simple, but netizens were getting either one of the two most common answers – 1 or 9. Some even expanded the equation to justify their answers as seen below.

6÷2(2+1)
6÷2(3)
6÷6
= 1

6÷2(2+1)
6÷2(3)
3(3)
= 9

Even different calculators were getting different answers.

Many netizens discussed on how the BODMAS (or PEDMAS) rule should be used, but most of them still couldn’t agree on the same answer.

Others went further to explain that there was an error in the equation or that it was just not laid out correctly, hence leaving different possibilities of solving the equation.

Some pointed out that keying in the equation using different symbols into the calculator gave different answers as well.

Indeed, the answers were different.

How would YOU solve 6÷2(2+1)? Let us know in the comments below! 

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