This simple math problem went viral (about five million views) on YouTube:

6÷3(1+2)

What is your answer and its justification?

(In reply to Don't get me started... (but) ... by Charlie)

The conclusion in the video is wrong. There is a solution. The problem does not lie in the question of the order of operations, but the interpretation of notation.
The order given by PEMDAS does not imply that multiplication occurs before division, and addition before substraction. The mnemonic is but a device to remember that calculation in parentheses are done before exponents followed by multiplication and division then followed by addition and subtraction. The order of the operations between multiplication and division are on par yet are to be handled left-to-right.  Given the equation as modern, the solution is
6÷3(1+2) = 6÷3(3) = 2(3) =  6

Posted by Dej Mar on 2018-08-09 15:17:35