this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] anamethatisnt@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I never ran into PEMDAS while growing up, in Sweden I've always been taught of it as the following order of operations:

  1. P
  2. E & Roots
  3. M & D
  4. A & S
[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Technically roots are a form of exponent, just fractional (square root is power of 1/2, for instance). I can see how it could be easier to conceptualize when you break it down like that though. Neat to see the differences compared to the US breakdown :)

[–] anamethatisnt@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 days ago

Technically we go for 2. Powers & Roots, I just didn't want to break the PEMDAS when comparing. :)

[–] stray@pawb.social 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

e: Wanted to see if this is a thing in English.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They aren't using the same words so the shorthand (if they have one) is different. I don't think we had a shorthand for it either, we just learned it.

And we learned them in groups numbered like the Swedes

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Okay then, but, fun story, the BODMAS they're talking about is also just PEMDAS using different words and a different listed order for multiplication/division, with the understanding that it's more properly PE(MD)(AS)

The order of operations is the important bit and everyone learns it that way. What causes the arguments is when dummies online forget that M+D or A+S can theoretically be done properly in any order and that part is a matter of preference.

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 2 points 22 hours ago

The disadvantage of a shorthand compared to just a numbered list might be that people think it's strictly one after the another instead of groups