Only the most observant will find the correct answer! Answer to the first comment

The error doesn’t stem from a lack of logic, but from forgetting the order of operations (the well-known rule known as  PEMDAS  or  BODMAS ). Our brains naturally tend to read from left to right, which leads to two very common pitfalls:

• The trap of reading directly (from left to right):

  Some first calculate  $2 – 2 = 0$ , then multiply by  $3$  ( $0 \times 3 = 0$ ), and finally add  $3$ . They thus find  3 .

• The trap of poorly implemented PEMDAS:

  Others remember that addition comes before subtraction in the word PEMDAS and do  $3 + 3 = 6$  at the end, getting  $2 – 6 = -4$  or other erroneous variations like  $2 – (6 + 3) = -7$ .

  Mathematics

  The step-by-step solution: The absolute rule

  Multiplication  takes precedence  over addition and subtraction. Furthermore, addition and subtraction have the same priority and are performed simply from left to right.

  Here is the exact sequence of events:

  1. Priority to multiplication:

     $$2 \times 3 = 6$$

     The expression then becomes:  $2 – 6 + 3$

  2.  From left to right:

     • We begin with the subtraction:  2 – 6 = -4

     • We finish with the addition:  -4 + 3 = -1

  The final, indisputable answer

  The correct result is  -1  !

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