I’m not sure what made you believe that the multiplication is handled before the definition, but I can’t find any new or old rules that are written down to support it.
Care to share?
I originally figured that 288 was correct, and then got talked into the other. So, I hit the old algebra book. It really didn’t discuss this specific form; however, the precedence rules along with the associative and communitive rules just don’t provide a means to invent an imaginary parenthetical grouping. The answer really has to be 288.