I doubt it was purposeful, more like just a problem made by a prof without thinking it would be argued 
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Iāve seen similar problems around before. Someone prob realizes the easy mistake people could make and shared it with their friends until it went viral.
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My flatmate and I were trying to understand this last night. She said 16, I said 1.
To be fair, I do think the equation is wrong on purpose to make everyone confused. Theyāre all just messing with us.
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16, just apply BODMAS.
Calculators can be finicky with brackets sometimes, you have to enter them properly, even if you think itās unncessary. My newest calculator even adds in the brackets it thinks you missed when you hit =. If you enter the equation properly itās fine. I never use the divide button anyway, Iām used to writing things as fractions.
As opposed to me where Iām just flat-out terrible. lol
Brackets Order Division Multiplication Addition Subtraction
I am now. When youāve got brackets, you work from the inside out. If you have brackets, in brackets, in brackets, you start from the inner most ones.
Pretty much everyone.
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I would say 1.
I take it you didnāt read the other replies. lol
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I would say that myself. Right or wrong. Whatever the others say.
Ok, but the answer is actually 16.
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So I was wrong. Iāll think it over after Iām home.
After 4 days I came to read this.
I didnāt read everything, I lost interest quickly. Anyway, what @jrtrussell said about operate from left to right is true and follow that rule the answer is 16.
If we skip that, then the answer is 1.
My conclusion is: F**k that man! Iām not an engineer 
Now seriously, to me it is 1, that was my first thought.
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I think thatās the intent. Itās meant to trick people. People initially think one bec of the parenthesis but after re looking at it and correctly following PEMDAS (or BODMAS) you realize itās 16.
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It shouldnāt. What happens is that people tends to forget that rule (from left to right) and then they get another answer.
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Yea. Thatās the point. It went viral because it trips a lot of people up. Itās just a brain teaser to trick ur friends.
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It would be more viral if the creators were used fruits or flowers instead number LOL.
means???
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Brackets. ()
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() ā those are parenthesis
theyāre used in mathematic either to mean multiplication or to show an operation within the equation that is given priority
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got it! thanks @the_termin8r @jrtrussell . Actually we never used those words. did math simply lol
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Brackets are both incredibly important and incredibly useful.
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We use them in math as well as in writing.