[Misc] Bodmas

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Jahooli

Well-known member
Feb 12, 2008
1,292
The Cat Sat
On An Orange
And Howled Horribly


Back of the net for tangents, sines and cosines :rock:

Stamp On His Corn And Hack The Other Ankle.

I was also taught Bless My Dear Aunt Sarah at junior school but went on to BODMAS at secondary.
 




Shuggie

Well-known member
Sep 19, 2003
668
East Sussex coast
Hope you're keeping well.

I was never overseen by Jack. But we did have the pleasure of Poxy Baxter. Parallel. "I always remember it as a sandwich". Only at a Grammar School would the maths teacher take pains to indoctrinate on spelling.

Grammar
Until
Immediate

What was the other word that would trigger a caning if spelled wrongly? ??? :wave:

rhythym I reckon
 


schmunk

"Members"
Jan 19, 2018
9,599
Mid mid mid Sussex
I've always remembered the angles by the sounds of the 'words' - sort of So, Car Tower, as if you're addressing the RAC man at the side of the A23...

Anyway, SUVAT equations of motion, anyone? My GCSE Physics teacher told me I'd never forget then and, 25+ years later, I haven't.
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
60,051
The Fatherland
The Cat Sat
On An Orange
And Howled Horribly


Back of the net for tangents, sines and cosines :rock:

Silly Old Harry, Caught A Herring, Trawling off America.

The order of the colours of the spectrum was drummed into us as Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain.
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
51,108
Faversham
Silly Old Harry, Caught A Herring, Trawling off America.

The order of the colours of the spectrum was drummed into us as Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain.

Hold me back!
 




AnotherArch

Northern Exile
Apr 2, 2009
1,182
Stockport & M62
BODMAS was imparted to me in 1962 in first year seniors accompanied by the audio of 3 foot board ruler being slammed on desk and the physical attributes of flying board dusters and chalk.
 


Arthritic Toe

Well-known member
Nov 25, 2005
2,407
Swindon
The answer is 36.
I have always looked at mathematical problems as sentences in English, which actually works to find the answers.
In this case it is , what is twenty plus four times four ?
Looking at it like this the answer is obviously 36.

In English its entirely ambiguous. It can be 96 or 36. In Maths it is 36. Maths has additional rules which English doesn't have.

I was taught the order of precidence in O level maths, but no one ever mentioned Bodmas. In my view its far more complicated to learn the acronym and remember what every letter stands for than it is to just learn the order of precidence.
 


WATFORD zero

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 10, 2003
26,088
Jack Liddell was teaching it as BODMAS in 1971 and warned us not to pay any attention to the hereticThomas if we wanted even the most modest success in life.

punish:

As was a young Les Hamilton.

Only dealings I ever had with Jack was that annual event where they gave him a GUN :eek:

And [MENTION=616]Guinness Boy[/MENTION] - I thought you would have known that you gave up any rights to use logic in arguments when you married her :wink:
 






The Antikythera Mechanism

The oldest known computer
NSC Patron
Aug 7, 2003
7,832
36 is the correct answer. As it seems relevant I’ll mention that I have a degree in Maths and used to teach A level maths.

Agreed. No degree in maths but I did get grade A - Pure Maths and grade A - Applied Maths back when the grading was 100% on the final exam, when all workings had to be shown and the only aid was log tables. (1972) :smile:
 






Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
60,051
The Fatherland
As an aside, I reckon I have not recited that Richard of York thing for 30 plus years. The power of mnemonics.
 


father_and_son

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2012
4,646
Under the Police Box
The answer is 36.
I have always looked at mathematical problems as sentences in English, which actually works to find the answers.
In this case it is , what is twenty plus four times four ?
Looking at it like this the answer is obviously 36.

In English, it's down to pauses...

You could say twenty plus <breathe> four times four and get one answer or say twenty plus four <breathe> times four and get a different answer.

Which is why Maths, which has no room for ambiguity, there must be rules to avoid this.
 






Uh_huh_him

Well-known member
Sep 28, 2011
10,942
I remember learning this in Miss Davies's maths class at Durrington High.
Probably in the 1st or 2nd year there. Back in 1980 ish
 


Bakero

Languidly clinical
Oct 9, 2010
13,860
Almería
When I was school in the 90s, Bodmas was definitely a thing. Rarely has in come in handy since, but I still remember it.

Fortunately, back in my day, we weren't forced to learn esoteric metalanguage like fronted adverbials but at some point I learnt how to use them. Perhaps the benefit of learning the jargon when studying your own language is that it helps when studying a foreign language. Sitting in French class, I never understood what was so great about the "perfect" tense but it would've made more sense if I'd known about perfect aspect in English.
 
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Bakero

Languidly clinical
Oct 9, 2010
13,860
Almería
--Massive brackets around this side note--

If anyone's interested, there's a book called Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife, which is ridiculously readable and informative, about zero: its beginnings in Babylon (which, when you think about it, is an awfully long time for humans to have numbers but not have a concept of the number nought), how it evolved and crossed the globe, and what happens to warships' computer systems if a zero is lurking where it shouldn't in its weapons codes.)

Just ordered a free sample of this. Sounds good, thanks for the tip.
 


Bakero

Languidly clinical
Oct 9, 2010
13,860
Almería
I'm a primary school teacher. Bodmas is now year 6 and fronted adverbials year 4. The world's gone crazy! They have to know whether it's : or ; between two main clauses (depending on whether the second clause explains the first or not) but still aren't told the tooth fairy doesn't exist.

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

Using colons correctly seems tricky for 8/9-year-olds but I guess you're not expecting mastery at that age.
 




Saladpack Seagull

Just Shut Up and Paddle
Bomdas. It's Bomdas. :wink:

It was a hard and fast rule tought to me in 1970, by Maths teacher Mr Thomas*, oddly (I just added Rod Thomas to the sicknote thread) so it must be true.

Crikey! MY Maths teacher in 1970 (I was 14) was also a Mr Thomas. Could it be the same one or is it a common surname for Maths teachers? Mind you, my Mr. Thomas was a Maths MASTER rather than teacher at my somewhat traditional Wealden school!
 


Tim Over Whelmed

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 24, 2007
10,264
Arundel
I'm a primary school teacher. Bodmas is now year 6 and fronted adverbials year 4. The world's gone crazy! They have to know whether it's : or ; between two main clauses (depending on whether the second clause explains the first or not) but still aren't told the tooth fairy doesn't exist.

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

Say what!
 


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