We posted a fun math problem tonight on Facebook.

6÷2(1+2)=?

We thought it would be fun to see how many people responded. There are a lot more math nerds then we thought there would be! Well, TPR is full of nerds from audio, sound, music, math, and Star Trek (most of these are only Eddie). Anyway, he brings you this delightful math problem tonight with a solution, so you won’t rack your brain or Google trying to figure it out.

The trick is PEMDAS. “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” if you remember that from grade school. You’d typically do parenthesis first, then exponents, and then multiplication OR division, and then addition OR subtraction. This is where people always get confused, because people tend to think it’s multiplication before division.

To solve 6÷2(1+2) you’ll first need to solve for the parenthesis:

(1+2)=3

Then solve left to right 6÷2(3), which can also be written, 6÷2×3, or 6/2(3).

First solve for 6÷2=3

Next multiply 3×3=9.

The answer is 9.

Hooray math!