Editing Openai/68a11068-3fe8-8007-bd18-674462ff2b41 (section)

=== Assistant: Good question 👍 ===
Good question 👍

The confusion comes from the fact that implicit multiplication (like writing 2x2x2x instead of 2⋅x2 \cdot x2⋅x) is not handled consistently across all contexts — in textbooks, calculators, programming languages, and even by people.

Here’s the breakdown:
# Order of operations (PEMDAS/BODMAS): - Officially, multiplication (×) and division (÷) have the same precedence and are evaluated left to right. - That means 50/2(1+4)50/2(1+4)50/2(1+4) → (50/2)⋅(1+4)=25⋅5=125(50/2)\cdot(1+4)=25\cdot5=125(50/2)⋅(1+4)=25⋅5=125.
# Implicit multiplication convention in algebra: - In pure algebra, many teachers and textbooks treat implicit multiplication as having higher precedence than division. - So 50/2(1+4)50/2(1+4)50/2(1+4) would be read as 50/[2(1+4)]=50/10=550/[2(1+4)] = 50/10=550/[2(1+4)]=50/10=5.
# Technology differences: - A basic calculator (or programming language like Python) usually applies the left-to-right rule → gives 125. - Some math notation systems (like Wolfram Alpha, older textbooks, or some exam boards) give priority to implicit multiplication → gives 5.

👉 That’s why you see ChatGPT (and many calculators) default to left-to-right, unless you explicitly clarify you’re following the algebraic convention where implicit multiplication is “stronger.”

Would you like me to show you a clean rule-of-thumb for writing expressions unambiguously so there’s never confusion like this?