Simple question: ax^2; that's a * x^2 rather than (a*x)^2, right?

AARRRGH · 08-07-2008 08:07PM #1

Hello

As the title says...

ax^2: that's a * x^2 rather than (a*x)^2, right?

^2 means "to the power of 2".

Thanks!

Webmonkey · 08-07-2008 08:10PM

Yes ^x means to the power of x and takes precedence over the multiplication afaik.

IrishKnight · 08-07-2008 08:13PM

Remember BOMDAS

Brackets
Order
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

Thomas_S_Hunterson · 08-07-2008 08:28PM

IrishKnight wrote: »

Remember BOMDAS

Brackets
Order
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

Or was it BEMDAS....

Brackets
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction
:P

Webmonkey · 08-07-2008 08:38PM

Never heard of any tbh

AARRRGH · 08-07-2008 09:18PM

Thanks everyone

IrishKnight · 08-07-2008 09:48PM

Meh, there is many

Delphi91 · 09-07-2008 02:38PM

IrishKnight wrote: »

Remember BOMDAS

Brackets
Order
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

I always thought the O stood for OF as in "1/4 of 16"?

Thomas_S_Hunterson · 09-07-2008 03:09PM

Delphi91 wrote: »

I always thought the O stood for OF as in "1/4 of 16"?

No the 'of' there is just multiplication.

If the O is 'of' then I presume it refers to powers of a number and roots of a number.

Although this is hardly a life or death argument....:p

LeixlipRed · 09-07-2008 03:40PM

ax^2 is the same as axe^2. Axe is the european name for lynx. Hence ax^2=lynx^2. IT's just a viral marketing ploy. QED, case closed, I'm right, etc

No, seriously, ax^2 is a times (x squared)

Michael Collins · 09-07-2008 03:56PM

Possible major flaw here:

LeixlipRed wrote: »

ax^2 is the same as axe^2

Explain that one Leixlip!

LeixlipRed · 09-07-2008 05:48PM

Pfft, obviously you never encoutered the "You can always add an e to the end of every word" theorem. Amateur

MathsManiac · 09-07-2008 08:09PM

I presume he means that an implement for chopping wood is referred to as an "ax" in the US and an "axe" elsewhere.

And that reminds of the joke about the Kerryman who boasted that, despite using it regularly, he'd had the same axe for forty years. Mind you, in that time he had replaced the handle eight times and the head five times!

Delphi91 · 11-07-2008 09:01PM

Sean_K wrote: »

No the 'of' there is just multiplication.

If the O is 'of' then I presume it refers to powers of a number and roots of a number.

Although this is hardly a life or death argument....:p

Purely having nothing else to do, I checked BOMDAS in Google and most of the hits I got suggest that the O stands for OF. I haven't found a clear explanation of what the OF stands however.

I did come across two interpretations, both leading to the same result. One was that the O stood for Orders as in exponentiation, the other suggested it was the second letter of the word pOwer, leading to the same thing.

There's also BIDMAS (I stands for Indices) and BEDMAS (E for Exponentiation).

Simple question: ax^2; that's a * x^2 rather than (a*x)^2, right?

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