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We might act like Muppets sometimes, but we’re nowhere near as good at counting as Count von Count. One! Two! Three! Hahaha. And that’s more or less where our worldly wisdom with numbers ends.

(Un)fortunately, we’re not the only ones whose brains sometimes derp out and throw their math skills out of whack! And that’s what the ‘They didn’t do the math’ subreddit is all about. It documents all of the biggest math fails on the net and all of the times people messed up when doing school-level counting. (Just remember not to mix this community up with its counterpart, the ‘They did the math’ subreddit.)

Check out some of the funniest ‘They didn’t do the math posts’ and upvote your fave pics by giving them a big old upvote. Do you have any embarrassing math fails to share with all the other Pandas? Drop us a comment below. Who said that math can’t be fun?!

#3

A Penny A Day For A Year Will Get You Nowhere

A Penny A Day For A Year Will Get You Nowhere

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skylerharris08 avatar
Skyler Harris
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know how the guy/girl thought it was 9,125 dollars with the quarter. Because he probably did 25x365 and not 0.25x365

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The subreddit has over 24.3k members and has been active for 6 and a half years at the time of writing. And the community is all about making your inner numbers’ wiz groan and cringe. There’s nothing like feeling like a genius at math when you compare yourself to the worst of the worst, is there?

But suppose that being better than the worst isn’t enough for you. You like a challenge. You enjoy improving yourself. Pushing past your limits. You’re a Panda, after all! Luckily, there are countless (pun not intended) free and paid resources online to help you sharpen your skills with numbers. From big names like Khan Academy to small scale websites and projects that you’ll find hiding in the cracks of the internet, right in-between posts about cats.

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While some peeps have an easier time learning math, I sincerely believe that everyone can reach the genius tier if they put in enough time, effort, and focus. I for one was really awesome at math when I started school (multiplying stuff was my bread and butter). However, I started struggling when they started throwing in letters and weird concepts into my calculations. I’m sure that more than one of you has been there, dear Readers.

But one thing that I learned was how much carving out an hour or two for practicing basic math problems helped me out. That and knowing some amazing math wizards who explain to you the illogical logic behind numbers. TL;DR—practice makes perfect and soon enough you’ll be a Muppet like Count von Count.

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#9

Ah Yes, Calculation

Ah Yes, Calculation

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Csaba Hegedűs
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, if he sleeps just three hours less, then it means he can drive for 27 hours per day...

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#11

What A Genius

What A Genius

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iajdini avatar
Bardhi's Dad
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm sure he is not trolling, so it means that the second solution is correct

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#17

Yay! We All Win

Yay! We All Win

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bryguy369 avatar
bryguy
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's scary when they double down and try to explain how they are right lol

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#19

How Many Trips Back To The Store?

How Many Trips Back To The Store?

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#20

Ah Yes, The 500 People Population Of The U. S.

Ah Yes, The 500 People Population Of The U. S.

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#21

Once A Day For Whole Year

Once A Day For Whole Year

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#24

For The 0.01th Time?

For The 0.01th Time?

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crabcrab avatar
Hans
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And even the testing math is not true, as positive rates do not simply scale with the number of tests but are dependent on many factors.

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#25

Hmm...

Hmm...

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#26

How Do I Take Advantage Of This Special?

How Do I Take Advantage Of This Special?

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#27

When Did Free Become So Expensive?

When Did Free Become So Expensive?

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#28

Please Explain... Yes...

Please Explain... Yes...

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#29

Only 4% Of The People Wash Their Hands?

Only 4% Of The People Wash Their Hands?

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chi-wei shen
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still hope the numbers by CDC are wrong. Such a low percentage sounds outright disgusting.

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#30

Communicative Property Is Anger

Communicative Property Is Anger

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#32

Valentine's Day Instant Baby Or That Elusive 4th Trimester Pregnancy

Valentine's Day Instant Baby Or That Elusive 4th Trimester Pregnancy

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bryguy369 avatar
bryguy
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Anyone who puts "lmfao" after every sentence immediately goes down 100 IQ

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#33

Abc Did Not Do The Math

Abc Did Not Do The Math

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Alex Fierro
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm guessing you could pick more than one option in the survey? It would make sense if the graph wasn't a pie chart

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#34

Social Distancing

Social Distancing

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#35

Wow! What A Great Deal!.....wait....

Wow! What A Great Deal!.....wait....

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#36

Pemdas

Pemdas

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mollyrachelporter avatar
Bellaaaa
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

well actually this is correct because 10/2 = 5 and 10+5=15

lyuboiv avatar
Vorknkx
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Division and multiplication take priority over addition and subtraction - or at least that's what my math teacher always told us.

earloflincoln avatar
Martha Meyer
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So we've actually reached the age where people not only can't do the maths in their heads they also can't do it with a calulator!

miss_sammi_dee avatar
Shelley DuVal
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have noticed from the #1 in this list of things that it seems most people dont know how to use a calculator.

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el_dee avatar
El Dee
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is why you should use brackets - it just saves confusion..

lordmysticlaw avatar
Lord Mysticlaw
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's actually pretty cool that the calculator does it correctly. They didn't back in my day 😋

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Blinding_Darkness
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In school we do BIDMAS for the order of which to do things in a sum/question brackets(), indices ¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹ , division, multiplication, addition, subtraction. So 10+10÷2 10÷2=5 5+10= 15

meyowmix avatar
Colin L
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the US we explain as PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplcatuon/Division, Addition/Subtraction).... same concept, different acronym.

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Mr. Whatshisface
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Order of operations dumbass... Division/Multiplication is done before Addition/Subtraction

ddw2945 avatar
Curry on...
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My daughter pleaded for a calculator when she was in the 6th grade, but I said no, because her math wasn't strong enough to figure out if the calculator gave the right/wrong answer, or she had put in the wrong numbers.

tuyetnguyetnhu avatar
Tuyết Hắc
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It depending what mode you put your calculator on. Usually they on the standard mode which count each time you put a mark, when scientific mode will count the whole sequence when you hit the equal sign. This is clearly a programmer fault when not showing which order they are using.

ellielyngvaer avatar
Ellie Lyngvaer
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

actually 50 because 10 times 10 is 100 divide that by 2 equals 50

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M Kate McCulloch
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Is this an order of operations question? The people who wanna say 10 are reading it like this: (10+10) / 2 = 10. The people who wanna say 15 are reading it like this: 10 + (10 / 2) = 15. The calculator is non-specific on this issue...

lynnnoyes avatar
elfin
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You can trust your calculator to perform division before it performs addition.

stanflouride avatar
Stannous Flouride
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's correct because the division has a higher order of expression than the addition but most people would write 10÷2+10.

cazoverll avatar
Caroline Overill
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just did it on my calculator and it comes out 10 which it should do unless there are brackets around the 10/2. 10/2 plus 10 comes out 15. The calculator just does the operations in the order you tell it.

ifsothenwhat avatar
IFXO
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The calculator uses BODMAS rules and your brain doesn't!

krzysztofmazurkiewicz avatar
Shull GaRett
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I never thought i see a day when someone will question order of math operations. Bun when i started seeing people telling to do stuff from left to right regardless of the operation i knew poop is hitting the fan sooner or later. Just like in that short film where 2+2=22...

clhtjh avatar
Christina Hagerman
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Depends on where/when you're taught. Some places teach order of operations (like I did), some places teach order of equation itself (my son's old school did...)

dandegnan avatar
Danieletc
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The multiplication/division comes first, than the addition/subtraction.

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Jaekry
Community Member
3 years ago

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mintyminameow avatar
Mewton’s Third Paw
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Calculators don’t know what order of operations you want, you have to just know how your calculator will perform the function. All calcs are different.

coricox avatar
Cori
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Order of operations. This is why your calculator has parentheses. Also I kind of hate that I know this.

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Leo Domitrix
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Am I the only person to have learned ORDER OF OPERATIONS?! It even applies in calculators! ARGH.... Nerd rant over.

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sophiagraubart avatar
Sophia Graubart
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

BEDMAS? I learned it as PEDMAS for paretheses, exponents, etc. Is it a mispelling or is there anothe way of saying it? If so, what does the B stand for?

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Monika Soffronow
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had never heard about this. (Not American) The BODMAS rule states we should calculate the Brackets first (2 + 4 = 6), then the Orders (52 = 25), then any Division or Multiplication (3 x 6 (the answer to the brackets) = 18), and finally any Addition or Subtraction (18 + 25 = 43).

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NELS HEDMAN
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You are the dumbest person on Earth!!!!!!!!1 Ever heard of Order of Operations?

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Henry Shane
Community Member
3 years ago

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Henry Shane
Community Member
3 years ago

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jaekrijnen avatar
Jaekry
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To be honest: (in Holland around 1992 the rules changed) Before 1992 you would first do multiply and divide --> then the plusses/minuses. But values within brackets () would go first! So... I think in 1991 in Holland this would have been the correct answer. (For the Dutch: Meneer van Dalen wacht op antwoord --> is dus... dood.)

jaekrijnen avatar
Jaekry
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But apparently now, you need to do this reading from left to right.

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Monika Soffronow
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, there is more to this than meets the eye. "If your calculator is NOT a scientific calculator it does NOT follow order of operations and calculates the result in the order in which the entries were made." So, indeed, if this person had been using a simple calculator doing the sum of 10 + 10 = 20, then dividing it by 2 = 10, they'd get that reaction.

mikebeck avatar
Mike Beck
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Finally. So many here with little to no sense. Thrilled to see at least two of us can think!

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Shelli Aderman
Community Member
3 years ago

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#38

Shouldn't A Vp At A Mortgage Company Understand How Compounding Interest Works?

Shouldn't A Vp At A Mortgage Company Understand How Compounding Interest Works?

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#39

Oof

Oof

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Alex Fierro
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

can someone,,, explain what is going on here??? like, I get it, but I also don't - obviously it's wrong but where is the error?

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#40

Off By 100x. Still Way Too High But Holy Crap How Do You Mess This Up?

Off By 100x. Still Way Too High But Holy Crap How Do You Mess This Up?

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Note: this post originally had 89 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.

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