[grateful]

There are rules and syntax.

There have to be because machines are only as smart as we make them. (Computer programmer here.) Ambiguity leads to problems like this and if we want to tell a computer or calculator that we want certain multiplicative operations to take precedence over others, we must add other parentheses. I think that also can be said about how humans solve the equation because if it was this...

48÷(2(9+3))

I'd be firmly on the 2 side. As of yet, implicit multiplication does not trump explicit multiplication, they are equal, for most standards.

[SoothingDave]

If those parentheses were there, then the answer would be 2. No question about it.

I can even see how implicit multiplication can come into play when discussing higher math. It’s a pain to write 1/(2x) when it’s obvious from context that you mean 1/2x. But that’s context and that’s higher math.

This is arithmetic.