Do this:
Go get a 7th or 8th grader who can do multiplication in their head. (Someone who can multiply or divide 48 by some number in their head)
Read the second line of your math problem out loud.
Hopefully, you’ll say:
“Forty-Eight divided by two times twelve”
Now as you say that out loud, will this middle-schooler have any reason to do the “two times twelve” part first?
Not if I stated it without parenthesis. If I say parenthesis, they would have to use the PEMDA rule.