EDIT: Thanks to a helpful comment I see why I was wrong.

    • I was trying to figure out how you came up with this - even given that you’re reh learning math - and thought “oh, maybe their native language is read right to left, so 1 + 1 = 2, and 10 - 2 = 8.” But then doing that you’d also go “1 - 1 = 0, and 10 - 0 = 0,” so I honestly don’t know how you’re getting there.

      And then I thought, “maybe they think subtraction comes first”, but then (10 - 1) + 1 is 10, and (10 - 1) - 1 is 8.

      I can’t think of any consistent rules that would produce this. You’d have to do:

      1. 10 - (1 + 1), and
      2. (10 - 1) - 1

      I’m really curious about your thought process.

      Incidentally, my wife was home schooled except her mother didn’t participate, so she never learned anything beyond basic addition and subtraction, and the single digit multiplication table. When she finally went for her GED she was in her 20’s, and we spent many, many hours together tutoring.

      So, you’re getting a lot of negative reactions, but don’t let it get you down. Keep up with it; it’s valuable to learn.

      BTW, my wife eventually graduated Summa Cum Laude in both her Bachelor’s and her Master’s degrees - non-STEM, so algebra was all she needed, but she fought hard for that 4.0, and she got it.

      • Arkouda@lemmy.caOP
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        23 days ago

        I am not sure how I mixed that up but for some reason in my head I was thinking “Do Addition then (should read “and”) Subtraction in order from left to right”. This is why it is a shower thought and why I am brushing up on my math. haha

        This is the back story of the silliness from another comment. I simply misremembered what to do and did addition before subtraction instead of left to right. I am still not sure exactly why because I literally just read a section on order of operations and my brain did the rest. I am usually not so bad at math, but my brain can be my worst enemy. haha

        • did addition before subtraction instead of left to right

          No, what you actually did was put it inside brackets, thus changing the number of terms. Doing addition first gives the exact same answer as doing subtraction first…

          subtraction first 10-1+1=9+1=10

          addition first 10+1-1=11-1=10

          You did 10-(1+1), hence the wrong answer. It doesn’t matter which order you do it, though often students make mistakes with signs when they change the order, which is why we teach to do left to right.

          • Arkouda@lemmy.caOP
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            2 days ago

            The brackets are used to make the equation look cleaner, and the issue for declaring the statement true was doing Addition and Subtraction in the wrong order.

            A - ( B x C ) + ( D x E ) = A - ( B x C ) - ( D x E )

            Using your example:

            10 - 1 + 1 = 10 doing the subtraction first. 10 - 1 + 1 = 8 doing the addition first.

            When doing the other side of the equation:

            10 - 1 - 1 = 8 regardless of order because it is all subtraction. edit: Brain still waking up it is not the same regardless of order, but you do it left to right making it incorrect to do 1-1 first.

            By doing it out of order and incorrectly I was able to make my statement true that as long as A was greater than the sum of B-E both sides would be equal.

            • 💡𝚂𝗆𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗆𝖺𝗇 𝙰𝗉𝗉𝗌📱@programming.dev
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              2 days ago

              The brackets are used to make the equation look cleaner

              No, they’re used to show deviations from the usual order of operations. If I want 2+3x4 to equal 20, then I have to write (2+3)x4.

              10 - 1 + 1 = 8 doing the addition first

              No it isn’t. 10+1-1=11-1=10 is doing the addition first. Note same answer. You in fact did 10-(1+1) - you added brackets which changed the answer, thus a wrong answer

              10 - 1 - 1 = 8 regardless of order because it is all subtraction

              Not all of it. You’re forgetting the 10 is really +10. -10-1-1 would be all subtraction. +10-1-1 is addition and subtraction.

              it is not the same regardless of order

              Yes it is! 😂 It is always the same regardless of order, as I have just shown you, again.

              10-1+1=9+1=10

              10+1-1=11-1=10

              -1+1+10=0+10=10

              1-1+10=0+10=10

              1+10-1=11-1=10

              -1+10+1=9+1=10

              you do it left to right making it incorrect to do 1-1 first.

              It’s NOT incorrect to do 10-1+1 or 10+1-1. It IS incorrect to do 10-(1+1), which is what you did

              By doing it out of order and incorrectly I was able to make my statement true

              It was solely because you did it incorrectly. Order doesn’t change anything.

              • Arkouda@lemmy.caOP
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                2 days ago

                I am not going to argue with you about it. This was resolved almost a month ago.

                Read the original equation again, plug some numbers into it, and try again. If that doesn’t help, read the rest of the thread. If you still don’t get it I cannot help you.

                • I am not going to argue with you about it

                  Nor should you. I’m a Maths teacher.

                  This was resolved almost a month ago

                  And yet you still don’t understand what’s wrong with what you said.

                  Read the original equation again, plug some numbers into it, and try again.

                  That’s what you need to do. You’re the one coming up with wrong answers when you change the order. Changing the order doesn’t change the answer.

                  If you still don’t get it I cannot help you

                  It’s not me who doesn’t get it. I teach it.