[spunkets]

"In order for that to hold remotely true, you should be able to turn it around..."

Yes, the above fators I showed commute. Division does not commute, so the proper multiplicative inverses must be used as factors. Then, of course the factors commute.

"(48/(9+3))*2. 8 huh?

No.
48*0.5*12 = 12*0.5*48 = 0.5*48*12 = 12*48*0.5

[Dead Corpse]

No. 48*.5*0.0833333333= 2. You CANNOT commute that factor right off the end of the divisor.