Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Multiplication of two numbers is easy, right? At primary school we learn how to do long multiplication like this: Methods ...

This summer, battle lines were drawn over a simple math problem: 8 ÷ 2(2 + 2) = ? If you divide 8 by 2 first, you get 16, but if you multiply 2 by (2 + 2) first, you get 1. So, which answer is right?