[svandamme]

Originally Posted by island911

and

Yeah, and there is a rule that says when writing a sentence we start with a the first letter capitalized. --bfd.

Seriously we all -get- that there are rules (damn-it)

Now I certainly appreciate the 'rules' thought, but sorry, the OP eqn is a classic example of math notation ambiguity. (mixing 3rd grade symboligy ÷ w/ more advanced notation grouping) ...Now had the eqn been 48 ÷ 2 x (9+3) ...then yeah, the L/R-rule-nazis^* would have an easy 288 win.

. . .And for you rules-nazis; consider that if mathematical notation/syntax is so perfect then why are there SO MANY different symbols for say, multiplication? ( x * (dot) implies multiplication against a bracket.)

Again, math notation is just that - notation. ...a tool to an end.

Like it or not, math notation is not some fixed, unmoving set of logical perfection. It has a history. It has evolved. It does evolve. (shocking, I know)

To the current.. people use brackets, braces and grouping extensively, because the whole L/R rule is simply not a reasonable convention when solving large eqn's.

Again, the OP eqn was intentionally set to pit a third-grade math rule against a (math-working) grouping method. How about 1/ 2X .. 1÷2X ... what about -3² ...is that 9? ...or -9? Oh what did the writer mean?

*just to add a dash of thread-kill.

There's zero ambiguity to those who know the rules.. Math can't be ambigious, either it's right, or it's not... The equation in this thread, is right, it can be solved, it has been solved, and there's nothing ambigious about that.

Btw, pretty sad to pick on a single capital letter that was left out... big deal Grammar is not Math... The meaning of the sentence did not change one single bit because of the missing letter. It wan't ambigious...