I know bedmas. Shouldn’t it be left to right when tied?(multiplication and division). This would give 16.
In: Mathematics
Yes and no. This is a trick question which exploits an ambiguity between two different notation styles, one familiar from elementary school and a later one which we pick up around high school.
When kids are first learning arithmetic expressions, multiplication and division are denoted by the × and ÷ symbols. But around the time we start doing algebra, we stop using ÷ in favour of fraction bars, and we quit using × in favour of just sticking stuff together with no symbol, and from that point on you can start treating those multiplicative blobs as indivisible atoms and never have to think about the left-to-right MD step of PEMDAS again, because the fractional bars and layout tell you everything you need to know.
So when we see an expression which has a ÷ symbol *and* and one of those blob-multiplications (technically, ‘implicit multiplication by juxtaposition’), it’s meant to make us confused, like “wtf, do I read this the elementary school way, or the high school way?”
In some sources, this kind of implicit multiplication has an earlier precedence than a division symbol, and in others it doesn’t, so anyone insisting on a single clear right answer is missing part of the story. The real answer is that someone who knew what they were doing and actually *wanted* to communicate a mathematical expression clearly, would never write it that way. If you encountered this formula in real life, the right thing would be to track down who wrote it and ask what they meant.
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