Math is hard when you don't remember it

"5+5+5-5+5-5+5x0=? (I bet more people will get this wrong:P) Give a try! 40, 0, 20, 15" -poll on facebook

I saw this poll pop up in my Facebook feed the other day. As predicted by its author, the vast majority of people did, in fact, incorrectly answer "0", including several of my friends. Enough so that I thought it might be useful to write a little bit about why, exactly, this is. But first, a little anecdote of my own.

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