• Zagorath
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    81 year ago

    The answer is 1, but the logic you’ve used to get there is a little off. Different groups actually follow different logic, but they usually arrive at the same end-point.

    The American Mathematical Society goes:

    • Brackets
    • Indices
    • Multiplication indicated by juxtaposition
    • Regular multiplication and division
    • Addition and subtraction

    While the American Physical Society does

    • Brackets
    • Indices
    • Multiplication
    • Division
    • Addition and subtraction

    In both cases, addition and subtraction are equal in priority (this solves the problem brought up by a different comment where following primary school BIDMAS would mean 8-4+2=2). In one case (and this is the way I prefer to do it) they solve the problem by declaring that implicit multiplication is done before division, but explicit multiplication with the × sign follows the same rules you would have learnt in primary school. The other says all multiplication is done before division, including explicit multiplication.