PEMDAS is not a completely universal system?

Question

8/2(2+2)= ?

Technically this should be 16

but with the American system it would be 1 according to pemdas

Answer 1

It would be 16 according to PEMDAS, too.

8/2(2+2)

Parentheses first:

8/2*4

Equal heirarchy operators from left to right in order.

4*4

16

What you describe would have to be 8/(2(2+2))

Fractions written on a single line can be ambiguous. Use parentheses liberally to rule out any possibility of confusion.

Answer 2

What makes you think that the expression should be equal to 16?

PEMDAS is not a system; it is a convention and under that convention the answer is 1

It is a convention to be applied when the order of operations is NOT otherwise clear...as in this case.

If you want the answer to be 16, you should write [8/2](2+2)!