The issue normally with these "trick" questions is the ambiguous nature of that division sign (not so much a problem here) or people not knowing to just go left to right when all operators are of the same priority. A common mistake is to think division is prioritised above multiplication, when it actually has the same priority. Someone should have included some parenthesis in PEDMAS aka. PE(DM)(AS)

Knowing basic arithmetic does not mean you know Math, and the fact you so hung up about this trivial aspect says a lot about you. Additionally, you express yourself like a boomer.

Except it does matter. I left some examples for another post with multiplication and division, I'll give you some addition and subtraction to see order matter with those operations as well.

Let's take:
1 + 2 - 3 + 4

Addition first:
(1 + 2) - (3 + 4)
3 - 7 = -4

Subtraction first:
1 + (2 - 3) + 4
1 + (-1) + 4 = 4

Right to left:
1 + (2 - (3 + 4))
1 + (2 - 7)
1 + (-5) = -4

Left to right:
((1 + 2) - 3) + 4
(3 - 3) + 4 = 4

Edit:
You can argue that, for example, the addition first could be (1 + 2) + (-3 + 4) in which case it does end up as 4, but in my opinion that's another ambiguous case.

My language teachers always told me it was bad form to use too much or even to nest parenthesis...

Then I found lisp...

I like the version where these problems are made purposefully ambiguous so people will fight over it and raise the level of interaction

I like the version where these problems are made purposefully ambiguous

None of them are ambiguous. They all have only 1 correct answer, just like this one only has 1 correct answer. They all test if people remember the order of operations rules. Those who got it wrong, don't.

No, it should simply be "Parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, addition."

A division is defined as a multiplication, and a substraction is defined as an addition.

I am so confused everytime I see people arguing about this, as this is basic real number arithmetics that every kid in my country learns at 12 yo, when moving on from the simplified version you learn in elementary school.

That's because (strictly speaking) they aren't teaching math. They're teaching "tricks" to solve equations easier, which can lead to more confusion.

Like the PEMDAS thing that's being discussed here. There's no such thing as "order of operations" in math, but it's easier to teach by assuming that there is.

Edit:
To the people downvoting: I want to hear your opinions. Do you think I'm wrong? If so, why?

US teachers too lazy to teach kids actual maths did.

What’s lazy about learning PEMDAS? And what’s the non-lazy/superior way?

A division is defined as a multiplication

No it isn't. Multiplication is defined as repeated addition. Division isn't repeated subtraction. They just happen to have opposite effects if you treat the quotient as being the result of dividing.

Those two things are memorisation tasks. Maths is not about memorisation.

You are not supposed to remember that the area of a triangle is a * h / 2, you're supposed to understand why it's the case. You're supposed to be able to show that any triangle that can possibly exist is half the area of the rectangle it's stuck in: Start with the trivial case (right-angled triangle), then move on to more complicated cases. If you've understood that once, there is no reason to remember anything because you can derive the formula at a moment's notice.

All maths can be understood and derived like that. The names of the colours, their ordering, the names of the planets and how they're ordered, they're arbitrary, they have no rhyme or reason, they need to be memorised if you want to recall them. Maths doesn't, instead it dies when you apply memorisation.

Ein Anfänger (der) Gitarre Hat Elan. There, that's the Guitar strings in German. Why do I know that? Because my music theory knowledge sucks. I can't apply it, music is all vibes to me but I still need a way to match the strings to what the tuner is displaying. You should never learn music theory from me, just as you shouldn't learn maths from a teacher who can't prove a * h / 2, or thinks it's unimportant whether you can prove it.

What fundamental property of the universe says that

6 + 4 / 2 is 8 instead of 5?

Nothing. And that's why people don't write equations like that: You either see

     4
6 + ---
     2

or

 6 + 4
-------
   2

If you wrote 6 + 4 / 2 in a paper you'd get reviewers complaining that it's ambiguous, if you want it to be on one line write (6+4) / 2 or 6 + (4/2) or 6 + ⁴⁄₂ or even ½(6 + 4) Working mathematicians never came up with PEMDAS, which disambiguates it without parenthesis, US teachers did. Noone else does it that way because it does not, in the slightest, aid readability.

You might be smart, but you’re still wrong about the importance of order of operations; especially in algebra.

As far as teachers go, you’re being a dick by generalizing all (US) teachers are lazy and do not understand math.

Pro tip: opinions are like assholes; you too have one, and yes it too stinks.

This kind of problem falls under "communicating badly and acting smug when misunderstood". Use parenthesis and the problem goes away.

Words that End in GRY

xkcd (xkcd.com)

You understand that gen x starts around 1965, right? Your stat says they're mostly getting fucked too.

For me it's the arguments when there is a parentheses but no operator (otherwise known as implied multiplication) in these baits e.g. 15 + 2(4 - 2)

If you don't know operator orders I have given up long ago, but I have seen a few lengthy discussions about this

Oh yeah, that's a fun one.

Where I live, this would be considered juxtaposition, at least by uni professors and scientific community, so 2(4-2) isn't the same as 2×(4-2), even though on their own they're equal.

This way, equations such as 15/2(4-2) end up with a definite solution.

So,

15/2(4-2) = 3.75

While

15/2×(4-2) = 15

Usually, however, it is obvious even without assuming juxtaposition because you can look at previous operations. Not to mention that it's most common with variables (Eg. "2x/3y").

I never understood how people couldn’t understand basic PEMDAS/BEDMAS/Whatever-the-fuck-your-country-calls-it.

There's no "whatever-the-fuck-your-country-calls-it", the US is the only country using it, and only up to high school. At least I'm not seeing any papers coming out of the US relying on it so at some point they're dropping it and do what everyone else is doing: Write equations such that you don't need a left-to-right rule to disambiguate things. Also, using multiplication by juxtaposition (2x + 4x^2^).