But here you asked a bunch of QLers - and then ridiculed them for getting it wrong!

Neither Greeker or I are arguing about the multiplication before addition rule. I agree with it as I have studied maths and I arrived at the answer zero. The point we're saying is that when asking people who you know aren't mathematicians (i.e. QLers!) it saves confusion if you include the brackets.

I realise if you'd done that it would have defeated the point of your post, but I hope you can see where we are coming from. We're not arguing the rule, just saying that it takes very little effort to make it easier for everyone to read.