Ultimately it's ambiguous and bad. But most mathematicians (at a level higher than primary school education) use multiplication by juxtaposition—aka implicit multiplication—at a higher priority than division. BIDMAS, as you might have been taught in primary school, is an oversimplification that doesn't even account for the possibility of juxtaposition, because you didn't learn about that until secondary school.

Most mathematicians would use logic that lets you arrive at the answer of "1", while also saying it should have been written better. Brackets are cheap. Use them!

[–] Melkath@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

[–] ShortFuse@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

If you believe multiplication goes before division then 1. 8 / (2 * 4)

If you believe multiplication and division are of equal importance 16. 8 / 2 * 4

SQL, Google, and I believe C++ and HLSL would say the latter: (16)

[–] SmartmanApps@programming.dev 1 points 8 months ago

If you believe multiplication goes before division then 1. 8 / (2 * 4)

That's not "multiplication" though - that's The Distributive Law. Multiplication refers literally to multiplication signs.

[–] SmartmanApps@programming.dev 1 points 8 months ago

what’s the correct one?

Yes, one is correct :-)