Calculator bug?

Question

Calculator bug?

iPhone 11. Software 15.1

OK, I was playing with a maths question asking if a prime number greater than 3 when squared then 1 was subtracted, is the answer always divisible by 12?

then I saw the bug. (IMO there is always something weird happening on the iPhone calculator with a 1 and I am often being ridiculed by my peers on choice of phone.)

so enter the following key presses…

29 x 29 - 1 / 12 =

BTW The answer is 70.

If you don’t press the = button after the 1 then the - 1 is ignored.

Now should we be pressing the = button after every actionable section (brackets) or not.

29 x 29 = - 1 = / 12 =

I would of thought that as you press each action button then the subtotal is calculated, so after entering - 1 and as you then press the divide button the subtotal should appear in the window.

Thanks

Kevin

iPhone 11, iOS 15

Posted on Nov 20, 2021 7:36 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,678 points

Nov 20, 2021 7:48 PM in response to Kompetent Kev

The iPhone calculator will follow the mathematical order of operations when calculating that equation. You will first get 29x29, when you enter the -1/12, it has to divide the -1 by 12, before it can subtract that from 29x29. That is the correct order of operations, unless you create the equation as (29x29-1)/12. That is the only way to get the answer 70.

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Answer 2

Nov 20, 2021 8:09 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

Thanks but using your - 1 / 12 which equals - 0.083333 analogy, results in a different answer again. I appreciate BOMDAS and all that buts it’s a simple calculator. Just tried it on another calculator app and it works as I would expect.

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Calculator bug?

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