Tenderfoot Thahd Tavadi Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 So I was reading editors manual and Im pretty confused about following sentence: 'However, operations are done from right to left, instead of the usual left to right (so 9 – 3 – 3 is 0, not 3, because the subtraction on the right is done first).' Ok dont tell me why its right to left, lets leave it, but HOW is '9 – 3 – 3 = 0'?? Please someone explain to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 It's not. This is an error in the docs. The point is to put parentheses around EVERYTHING, rather than relying on normal Order of Ops to save you. 9 - (3 - 3) = 9 (9 - 3) - 3 = 3 9 - 3 - 3 = ???? I haven't tried the last one, but it really doesn't matter. Don't leave numbers naked. Use parentheses. That's all it's trying to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk Groovejet Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 I think that what he meant was this: 9 - (3 + 3) = 9 - 6 = 3 Negative three minus negative three is negative 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody Overwhelming Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 This mistake was already pointed out in another thread. And you'll find more mistakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Fort Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 The terms are just being evaluated from right to left. Usually, 1+2+3 means (1+2)+3 because it is done left to right But with Jeff's system it is 1+(2+3) 2+3*6 usually means 2+(3*6) because of order of operations, and it should still apply in Jeff's system But that is an error in the docs because 9-3-3 should be 9+(-3-3) which is 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk Groovejet Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 Yes, the mistake is that he may have thought that it was 3*3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Fort Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 But then you have to consider that the statement also said 9-3-3=3! (9-3)-3 is so very different from 9-(3*3). In reality, the direction of interpretation shouldn't matter as long as the order of operations apply, (Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division; the positive operator must always have precedence) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenderfoot Thahd Tavadi Posted July 23, 2004 Author Share Posted July 23, 2004 Damn! I just graduated from Physics and Mathematics School and Im still confused! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Just use parentheses everywhere to tell BoA what order you want things to be evaluated, and you'll be fine. Both in regular math and in BoA, 9 - (3 - 3) = 9 and (9 - 3) - 3 = 3. Everything else is superfluous if you just use a lot of parentheses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts