Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ccut!wnoc-tyo-news!dclsic!sjc!leia!harkcom From: harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom) Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: Subtle Math Questions Message-ID: Date: 15 May 91 02:30:04 GMT References: Sender: news@leia.pa.yokogawa.co.jp Organization: Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Tokyo, Japan Lines: 20 In-reply-to: harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp's message of 13 May 91 23:47:03 GMT In article harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom) writes: =} A case in point: operators =}If given 5 + 8 x 2 x 0, most high school graduates can give the correct =}value that it represents (even if the don't like math)... They won't =}know that the value could change depending upon the notation or why =}the value would be what it is, though. I would like to thank all of the people who took the time to reply to this. I have already had a large enough response to satisfy my curiosity, but I still welcome any more comments. Everyone got the correct answer: '5' in standard notation as the multiplication operator has higher priority. I doubt the response would have been as good if I polled a wide selection of HS graduates in the US though. I would guess that the majority of high school graduates in Japan would have gotten it right. Al