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submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by wischi@programming.dev to c/memes@lemmy.ml

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https://zeta.one/viral-math/

I wrote a (very long) blog post about those viral math problems and am looking for feedback, especially from people who are not convinced that the problem is ambiguous.

It's about a 30min read so thank you in advance if you really take the time to read it, but I think it's worth it if you joined such discussions in the past, but I'm probably biased because I wrote it :)

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[–] MeetInPotatoes@lemmy.ml 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

https://www.theleafchronicle.com/story/news/2019/08/08/viral-math-problem-answer-obelus-austin-peay-apsu/1933750001/

[–] SmartmanApps@programming.dev 0 points 8 months ago

"The obelus is treated differently,” Church said. "It could mean ratios, division or numerator and denominator, and these all tweak the meaning of the symbol.”

This is the only symbols I've ever seen used (but feel free to provide a reference if you know of any where it isn't - the article hasn't provided any references)...

Ratio is only ever colon.

Division is obelus (textbooks/computers) or slash (computers, though if it's text you can use a Unicode obelus).

Fraction is fraction bar (textbooks) or obelus/slash inside brackets (computers). i.e. (a/b).