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In math notation, division is indicated using fractions, which removes the ambiguity. The idea of equal priority of multiplication and division is a programmin

• jameshart 3y ago
  Or that ÷ x is equivalent to 1 * — x The thing schools don’t do a great job of doing is explaining when transition from doing ‘arethmetic’ to doing ‘algebra’. Many of the symbols you use in arithmetic continue to be used in algebraic notation, but what they mean changes subtly. Arithmetic is a procedural activity - performing a series of operations to get to an answer. Algebra is a declarative activity - making truthful statements about the world. For example in arithmetic x + y means ‘add y to x’. But in algebra it means ‘the sum of x and y’. In arithmetic ‘=‘ means ‘gives the result:’; in algebra it means ‘is equal to’. The failure of teaching to explain that you’re moving on to use those symbols to do something fundamentally different is, I think, one of the things that leaves some kids behind and dooms them to always annoy their relatives in Facebook comment threads about operator precedence.