Order of operations - parenetheses

  • Context: High School 
  • Thread starter Thread starter manjuvenamma
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Operations
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the order of operations in mathematical expressions, specifically exploring whether there are alternative methods to indicate this order aside from using parentheses. The scope includes theoretical considerations and personal experiences related to mathematical notation.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Debate/contested, Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions if there are better or different ways to indicate the order of operations beyond parentheses.
  • Another participant asks for clarification on the perceived issues with parentheses.
  • Some participants reference Polish and Reverse Polish notation as alternative methods for expressing order of operations.
  • A participant shares a personal anecdote about converting between notations in a programming class, indicating familiarity with the topic.
  • Another participant reflects on their past experiences with various types of brackets and their precedence, expressing curiosity about alternatives to standard parentheses.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express curiosity about the topic, but there is no consensus on whether alternatives to parentheses are better or necessary. The discussion remains open-ended with multiple viewpoints presented.

Contextual Notes

Some participants' comments suggest a historical context regarding the use of different types of brackets and their relevance today, but these points remain unresolved and are based on personal experiences.

manjuvenamma
Messages
102
Reaction score
0
Is there a better/different way of indicating the order of operations in a mathematical expression - other than using parentheses?
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
Why? What's wrong with parentheses?
 
Ah, prefix and postfix notation. I remember when I took an intro to programming class as an undergrad, I had to write a program that converted from prefix/postfix to infix, in Pascal. That was fun. :biggrin:
 
Number Nine! Nothing wrong with brackets. Just curiosity. When I studied OOO when I was kid 40 years ago, I studied different types of brackets and their order of precedence. Now, no one uses all these types of brackets, just ordinary brackets with nesting as needed.

Just curiosity to know if there is an alternate and better way.
 

Similar threads

High School Operator that returns unique number of binary matrix
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
2K
High School A proper comprehensive rule for arithmetic operation precendence
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
High School How to build an equation or expression?
  • · Replies 18 ·
Replies
18
Views
2K
Undergrad What is the role of geometry and dimensional operations?
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
High School Defining an operation such that ##1+2+3=123##
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
High School Three Squares Problem
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
2K
MHB Order of Ops: PEMDAS Explained w/ Examples
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
3K
Undergrad Convention of order of operations
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
Undergrad Billard balls on table
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
3K
Undergrad Composite quantum systems: Kronecker and Hadamard/Schur products
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
3K