this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2025
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Technically it can be, since PEMDAS is not an immutable law, it's convention so we can communicate maths and come to the same answer.
It's a convention just as letters and digits are. If you communicate with people, you better follow the convention they are used to or make it explicit when you don't. That is when your goal is to be understood of cause. Otherwise dkfurveekfifrhrvaakdjf I guess
Yeah, in the way that 12 inches equal a foot
It's completely arbitrary, but it's very very very important that we agree on measurements
At least twice now I've had math nerds get really mad when I suggested "if people are misreading it, add parentheses". Very much skinner "it's the children who are out of touch".
Some people would rather be right than understood, I guess.
No one's going to die because you write
x = c + (a * b)even though those parentheses aren't strictly needed.BEDMAS is just as immutable as the idea that those symbols represent numbers and operations. All math is based on conventions; you can't just decide that some are more important than others.