Quote Originally Posted by Lukie View Post
Ok then, logic problem:

Situation A: we follow the order of operations strictly, meaning terms inside brackets, then orders, then division and multiplication left to right, and subtraction and addition left to right. We do not give special preference of varying degrees to mutliplication via juxtaposition against brackets.

Situation B: we (by we, I mean generally a large following of people) give arbitrary special emphasis of varying degrees to such multiplication via juxtaposition, such that seemingly simple problems can be interpreted in multiple ways, and nobody can seemingly agree on anything.

Which makes more sense?

Quoting myself from an earlier post which should even more clearly demonstrate why option B is much murkier:
It should be situation A: Order of operations say multiplcation by juxtaposition will be treated as any other multiplication.

Situation B: Multiplcation by juxta takes precedence over multiplcation or division by other means.

Both make perfect sense.