Simple looking math problem leaves people stumped - are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Daily Mail​

7 hours ago

A simple arithmetic problem has left internet users scratching their heads - with only a few landing on the correct solution to this elementary school-level equation.
While most people learned the concept needed to simplify these kinds of equations by the time they turned 10, many attempters drew a blank this time around.
The key to getting to the bottom of this seemingly straightforward problem is to call upon every mathematicians' favorite acronym - PEMDAS.
Each letter represents a math symbol in the order they are meant to be done when they come up in a problem.
Anything inside parentheses (P) should be worked out first. Secondly, exponents (E) should be addressed.
Next should be multiplication and division (MD), but multiplication does not necessarily have to come before division. The correct method is to address them from left to right as the are written in the equation.
Lastly, addition and subtraction (AS). When only those two operations remain, the sum can be solved from left to right because the order makes no difference.
Here's the equation, give it a go before reading on:
Under the X post, shared by user BreakTheSilos, that first sparked the mathematical confusion, some users confidently claimed the answer was 0 or 1.
But both solutions are incredibly incorrect.
Applying PEMDAS, the first step to solving this problem is to tackle what's inside the parentheses: 3 + 5.
After performing basic addition, you get 5, making the new equation 45 ÷ 9 (5).
At this stage, some people fell into a trap.
Instead of following PEMDAS, they decided to multiply 9 and 5, leaving them with the flawed expression 45 ÷ 45.
Instead of this faulty method, you must remember that multiplication and division is to address them from left to right.
Keeping that in mind, the correct second step is to solve 45 ÷ 9, which equals 5.
Now, left with 5(5), the only thing to do is to multiply 5 x 5, finally getting you the correct answer of 25.