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cypherpunks Mod , to Memes in 6÷2(1+2)
@cypherpunks@lemmy.ml avatar

I'm curious if you actually read the whole (admittedly long) page linked in this post, or did you stop after realizing that it was saying something you found disagreeable?

I’m a high school Maths teacher/tutor

What will you tell your students if they show you two different models of calculator, from the same company, where the same sequence of buttons on each produces a different result than on the other, and the user manuals for each explain clearly why they're doing what they are? "One of these calculators is just objectively wrong, trust me on this, " ?

The truth is that there are many different math notations which often do lead to ambiguities.

In the case of the notation you're dismissing in your (hilarious!) meme here, well, outside of anglophone high schools, people don't often encounter the obelus notation for division at all except for as a button on calculators. And there its meaning is ambiguous (as clearly explained in OP's link).

Check out some of the other things which the "÷" symbol can mean in math!

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