Nerd1: Meh. this is about notation not math.
Nerd2: The notation is what it's all about. You change the way you arrange the problem and you have a different equation. You can't say "Well... I was answering it for the other way". If you believe that, then welcome to America. Type II diabetes is on your right, and an overinflated sense of self-importance is on your left.
Nerd3:This is the kind of thing that makes people hate math. Math is about finding the solutions to problems, not making the problem deliberately ambiguous so people have a hard time figuring out what it's even asking.
Nerd4:Yep.. though I think lots of people would still hate math for other reasons. But this sure doesn't help.
"google that shit"
"f*** google, the answer is two...besides what came first arithmetic or google"
"are you serious?"
/*
48 ÷ 2 x 12 = 288
48 ÷ 2(9+3) = 2
*/