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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What is "real math", and who gets to decide which math is real and which math is fake?[/quote]

There is truth to math.  It is not something made up like creationism.[/quote]

Then why are people talking about fake math?

Actually the order of operations is made up, or more accurately a social convention. There's no reason it has to be that way.[/quote]

Mmhmm  :roll: [/quote]

Then please explain to me why it is mathematically necessary to do the operations in parentheses before the exponent operations.

[i]The order of operations in which one is to interpret a mathematical expression such as "2+3 * 5" is a convention. This means that a long time ago, people just decided on an order in which operations should be performed. It has nothing to do with magic or logic. Some people decided to adopt a way, and it has stuck ever since. It just makes communication a lot easier.
Another way of saying this is that rather than being inherent in the structure of mathematics, the concept of "order of operations" is a matter of mathematical notation. Order of operations refers to which operations should be performed in what order, but it's just convention. The notation tells you which operations to do first, not something about the underlying mathematics.[/i]
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.order.operations.html

[/quote]

The key phrase is "a long time ago."  In so far as a convention was established way back when as to how to read an expression it matters NOW what order. Convention and notation are important so everyone is on the same page. That's why its best if the educators who are writing math curricula follow the conventions already established.  
Try this doing the exponent first to see why: (3+2)^2[/quote]

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