Quote:
Originally Posted by Sid Squid
I'd like to agree, possibly because I was taught the notational differences, but I can't because of the difficulties that they cause.
This isn't changng the rules - this is making it plain for everyone with plain notation that more people more likely already know.
The simple fact that opinion is split strongly suggests that many are not aware of the differences, a simple and plain use of the brackets just about all of us are already familiar with removes ambiguity, I don't think anyone has added up or divided incorrectly, simply the phrasing of the question is far from plain for many people. Add to this, (see what I did there?  ), the fact that some of the people I work with are not aware of the difference, (and these are not uneducated people, they are people with professional electrical and electronic qualifications, so I suspect this also means a significant chunk of the population), and it further suggests that simplification of notation and attention to phrasing is the best way.
There's no change in the maths - it's just making more people understand the question. |
Now that I agree with totally. What I don't agree with is the answer of 5 mentioned earlier. So, as the question was written it could potentially lead to the incorrect answer and could be avoided by adding brackets or re-phrasing the expression but under no circumstances can the answer be correctly 5 as it is currently written.