I got some people really angry at me when I suggested writing some math expression with parenthesis so it would be clearer. I think someone told me that order of operations is like a natural law and not a convention, and thus everyone should know it or be able to figure it out.
That’s because it’s already clear as is, as per the rules of Maths.
I think someone told me that order of operations is like a natural law
It’s a natural consequence of the definitions of the operators. e.g. Multiplication is shorthand for repeated Addition - 2x3=2+2+2 - so if you don’t do it before addition you end up with wrong answers. The order of operations rules is in fact just breaking everything down into Addition and Subtraction and then solving from there.
not a convention
There are some conventions, like left to right, but in that case that’s only because students tend to make mistakes with signs when they don’t go from left to right, so it’s there to preserve teachers sanity.
That’s because it’s already clear as is, as per the rules of Maths.
More people evaluate 2+3x4 incorrectly than 2+(3x4). So, no, your answer does not hold up to my observed reality. You can throw as many “well technically” and “well actually” as you want, but that’s not going to fix the bug or make a pr.
I like and respect teachers, but I’m a software developer and I’m telling you that adding extra parenthesis often adds clarity and makes the whole process smoother. You exist in a whole other context that has norms and assumptions that do not apply to what I’m talking about.
Everyone I’ve seen add Brackets to it has done so in the WRONG place and given WRONG answers. Again this is an issue of programmers not checking the rules of Maths
I sometimes like to add unnecessary parentheses or brackets to section things off and improve legibility, but I don’t do any math stuff collaboratively, so I have no idea whether others would find that disruptive or helpful.
Using parenthesis can really help if you want to simplify a term or need to rewrite something. I do that all the time because a lot of times you then can just cross stuff out fast on equations or get a common term that just has some factor instead of having a convolutet equation.
I got really angry because the prettier code formatter insists on removing parentheses, making things less clear. Because it’s an “opinionated” formatter you can’t tell it not to do that without using ugly hacks.
Sure, logically there are times when you don’t need them. But, often it helps to explain what’s happening in the code when you can use parentheses to group certain things. It helps in particular when you want to use “&&” and “||” to say “do X only if Y fails”.
I got some people really angry at me when I suggested writing some math expression with parenthesis so it would be clearer. I think someone told me that order of operations is like a natural law and not a convention, and thus everyone should know it or be able to figure it out.
That’s because it’s already clear as is, as per the rules of Maths.
It’s a natural consequence of the definitions of the operators. e.g. Multiplication is shorthand for repeated Addition - 2x3=2+2+2 - so if you don’t do it before addition you end up with wrong answers. The order of operations rules is in fact just breaking everything down into Addition and Subtraction and then solving from there.
There are some conventions, like left to right, but in that case that’s only because students tend to make mistakes with signs when they don’t go from left to right, so it’s there to preserve teachers sanity.
More people evaluate
2+3x4incorrectly than2+(3x4). So, no, your answer does not hold up to my observed reality. You can throw as many “well technically” and “well actually” as you want, but that’s not going to fix the bug or make a pr.The people who have forgotten the rules of Maths, and the mnemonics even! 😂
So try observing a real Maths textbook then. Students have no trouble at all with this, only adults who’ve forgotten the rules.
Adults who have forgotten the rules who I work with and read/write code where it’s important. In the real world.
This is like some pure maths vs real life engineering cliché.
You’re either being deliberately obtuse or you’re painfully naive.
And as a consequence of that, MathGPT is the only e-calc which gives correct answers to order of operations! 😂
It’s a Correct Maths vs. Programmers who have forgotten the rules cliche
Neither, I’m a Maths teacher
I like and respect teachers, but I’m a software developer and I’m telling you that adding extra parenthesis often adds clarity and makes the whole process smoother. You exist in a whole other context that has norms and assumptions that do not apply to what I’m talking about.
You being technically correct is irrelevant.
So am I
Everyone I’ve seen add Brackets to it has done so in the WRONG place and given WRONG answers. Again this is an issue of programmers not checking the rules of Maths
The rules of Maths always apply to all Maths
You’re not listening to me and I don’t think you’re worth listening to. Go away. Goodbye.
I sometimes like to add unnecessary parentheses or brackets to section things off and improve legibility, but I don’t do any math stuff collaboratively, so I have no idea whether others would find that disruptive or helpful.
I do this, sometimes it helps reveal a natural pattern when some parts of earlier terms have “disappeared” to simplification
I mean, there are very few ambiguous cases when you know how the order of operations works.
There are precisely none which are ambiguous
Using parenthesis can really help if you want to simplify a term or need to rewrite something. I do that all the time because a lot of times you then can just cross stuff out fast on equations or get a common term that just has some factor instead of having a convolutet equation.
I got really angry because the prettier code formatter insists on removing parentheses, making things less clear. Because it’s an “opinionated” formatter you can’t tell it not to do that without using ugly hacks.
Sure, logically there are times when you don’t need them. But, often it helps to explain what’s happening in the code when you can use parentheses to group certain things. It helps in particular when you want to use “&&” and “||” to say “do X only if Y fails”.
I think you can do
// prettier-ignore, because I remember facing that exact situation.https://prettier.io/docs/ignore/
I’ve done that, but that’s ugly.
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