What is the answer to 6 ÷ 2 (1 + 2)?

Dear, oh dear. Looks like hundreds of thousands of Twitter (sorry, X) subscribers need a maths lesson.

World of Statistics put out a poll a couple of days ago with the question: “6 ÷ 2 (1 + 2) = ?”. People voted for one of two choices: 9 or 1.

Cast your mind back to maths lessons at your school, and you might remember covering BIDMAS, BODMAS, or PEMDAS. They are a standardised way of performing calculations and are all based on the same priority order:

1. B/P — Brackets/Parentheses
2. I/O/E — Indices/Orders/Exponents
3. D/M — Division/Multiplication
4. A/S — Addition/Subtraction

It’s worth noting that division and multiplication have equal footing with each other — as do addition and subtraction. The one that comes first in the calculation is given the nod.

With all this considered, we can solve 6 ÷ 2 (1 + 2) this way:

1. Calculate what’s inside the brackets: (1 + 2) = 3
2. Perform the division: 6 ÷ 2 = 3
3. Do the multiplication: 3 × 3 = 9

Ask Google, ChatGPT, or indeed Excel, and you’ll get the same answer.

However, have a look at the final poll results:

🥈 9 — 46% (336,668)
🥇 1 — 54% (395,220)

Total votes: 731,888

Why do so many people think it’s 1?

Well, up until the early to mid-20th century, the world didn’t adhere to the standards we’re familiar with today, so there was no universal agreement on how to tackle calculations like this.

But c’mon — it’s 2023 now.

Astonishing!