[quote=Jorick]
This problem and others like it are purposely written with shoddy notation to make two answers equally possible. The ÷ could mean a few different things (it is exactly the same as a / by the way, no difference in function even though it's a different symbol) and the 2 touching the parenthesis could mean two different things. You'll get one answer or the other depending on which interpretation you choose, but the other interpretations are just as valid. The order of operations is actually kind of irrelevant here, because it all comes down to how you interpret the shoddy notation. I could write this shit out in long form to explain all the various interpretations and why they're all valid, but I'll just give everyone the benefit of the doubt and assume they know basic algebra well enough (or have seen this stupid problem come up enough times) to get what I'm talking about.There is no one correct answer, which is the entire purpose of this problem. It's essentially a really successful trolling tool, nothing more. People expect that math problems will have one correct answer and all others are wrong, thus when there's disagreement on these kinds of problems people get all butthurt and defensive about their answer because they think it has to be the one true answer. This problem is not a test of math skills, it is a purposely broken problem intended to piss people off. The fact that people still argue about it to this very day is proof of how successful it is.
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lolno, there is a difference between obelus (÷) and solidus (/) and a single correct answer to this problem. This isn't some magical problem that has multiple possible correct answers depending on the reader's interpretation, it simply exploits the fact that people have failed to learn the difference between the two symbols (As obelus is generally pointless to use past basic arithmetic) and causes confusion.

In basic arithmetic, the difference between obelus and solidus is grouping. Obelus is simply the division operator, while solidus implies a fraction that contains everything unless it is encapsulated in parenthesis.

6÷2(1+2) implies (6/2)(1+2) which works out to 9

while 6/2(1+2) implies (6)/(2(1+2)) which works out to 1