VATupdate Newsletter Week 40 2023

Math

You may have seen these riddles that are posted on Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media. Some of them mildly interesting, some weird or no fun at all, and sometimes they can be quite intriguing. There is one that continues to go around, and where no one has the right answer.

What is the correct answer: 8 ÷ 2 ( 2 + 2 ) = ?

There are two sides, and neither of them wants to give-in. The answer is either 1 or 16.

The basic math rules are learned at school, and in most case you have learned a so-called ‘mnemonic’ (an ass’ bridge, or donkey bridge, as it’s called in Dutch), helping you to understand how a math challenge should be solved. The problem in this case is that there seem to be different rules as to what comes first: division or multiplying?

We all know that the first step is to do everything that is between the brackets. That’s the easy part, as 2 + 2 = 4. The next step is either division or multiplication. Some will say that you have to start from left to right, so in this case, division comes first, and multiplication comes second. 8 divided by 2 is 4, and 4 times 4 is 16.

Traditionalists will stick to the order of their mnemonic, being PEMDAS or BODMAS. If you use the PEMDAS method, the order of the equation is Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction. But if you were raised on the BODMAS method, then the order is Brackets, Orders, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction.

The PEMDAS people will thus first do the multiplication (2 x 4 = 8) and then division (8 / 8 = 1). However, some people say that in the PEMDAS method, division and multiplication are equal, and that you have to use them reading from left to right. Which means that we’re back to 16 again.

Using BODMAS initially seems to end up with 1: solve between brackets first (2 + 2 = 4), then solve this part first (thus 2 x (4) = 8), which leaves the division-part (8 / 8 = 1). However, also here, you can argue that by solving the brackets first, they are gone after that, and you follow the order division – multiplication, thus ending up with 16 again.

We are lucky that we are VAT people and not mathematicians. But isn’t it great to know that VAT is not the only science where multiple answers to the same question are possible? Even in a discipline such as math, where always an answer can be found, even if it’s with unlimited numbers behind the comma, uncertainty is possible. We would always celebrate that with a piece of pie. Or Pi.

If you have any comments, questions, or ideas that you want to share with us, please send us an email at [email protected] or leave a comment under the posts of this newsletter on LinkedIn.

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