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

  • 08-07-2008 8:07pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,382 ✭✭✭✭


    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!


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,579 ✭✭✭Webmonkey


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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 922 ✭✭✭IrishKnight


    Remember BOMDAS

    Brackets
    Order
    Multiplication
    Division
    Addition
    Subtraction


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,151 ✭✭✭Thomas_S_Hunterson


    Remember BOMDAS

    Brackets
    Order
    Multiplication
    Division
    Addition
    Subtraction
    Or was it BEMDAS....

    Brackets
    Exponents
    Multiplication
    Division
    Addition
    Subtraction
    :P


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,579 ✭✭✭Webmonkey


    Never heard of any tbh :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,382 ✭✭✭✭AARRRGH


    Thanks everyone :)


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 922 ✭✭✭IrishKnight


    Meh, there is many


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,501 ✭✭✭Delphi91


    Remember BOMDAS

    Brackets
    Order
    Multiplication
    Division
    Addition
    Subtraction

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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,151 ✭✭✭Thomas_S_Hunterson


    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


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,081 ✭✭✭LeixlipRed


    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 :D

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


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 1,852 Mod ✭✭✭✭Michael Collins


    Possible major flaw here:
    LeixlipRed wrote: »
    ax^2 is the same as axe^2

    Explain that one Leixlip!


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,081 ✭✭✭LeixlipRed


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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,595 ✭✭✭MathsManiac


    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!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,501 ✭✭✭Delphi91


    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).


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