48÷2(9+3) = ?

Not meaning to be rude, but is mathematics your area of study? I haven't studied maths in further education, but I don't believe it's necessary for this question.

People are saying that you should be working from left to right. Technically speaking, when you figure out the 2(12) as the brackets takes precendence, then you are still working from left to right. When I studied maths and was presented with big calculations involving brackets I'd put my priority into figuring out the numbers obtained from the brackets and then work out the calculation as a whole.

But you're basically saying that 48 divided by 2(12) should be treated as 48 divided by 2 and then multiplied by 12 to obtain the answer of 288 simply because of the arrangement of BODMAS. Multiplication and division are treated equally, as does subtraction and addition and I'm guessing the only reason that BODMAS is spelt that way is to make it easier for people to remember the rule that brackets takes priority in terms of arithmetic equations.

Really, it's the way the question is set out and that is the most important thing. The questioner doesn't expect you to use a calculator to work out this question or have a "computing minded" mode, but use initiative to what you could see. So I still stick to 2, even though it's obvious the question isn't presented well.

It depends how you write it

How nice for you, but you are wrong. You work out the INSIDE of the brackets first, then apply the usual rules (ie multiplication and division are equal precedence so parse the whole thing left to right)

Seriously I think the original question is poorly worded and everyone's getting confused

It depends how you write it

48
__
2(9+3)
or
48
__
(9+3)
2

In one of those you are reformulating the question from
48÷2(9+3)
to
48÷(2(9+3))


Its 288, it doesnt 'depend' on anything and its not a matter of preference or ambiguity. The rules are clear.

I'm still sticking to 2 either way.

Division has precedence normally, I was taught so in Maths, and usually you expect division to have precedence in the 3rd gen languages I have come across (C, C++, Java, etc).

The reason: in my mind "implied multiplication" binds "harder" than explicit multiplication/division.

I'm going to side with 2, I'm afraid:

The reason: in my mind "implied multiplication" binds "harder" than explicit multiplication/division.

Otherwise we'd have 3x / 2y = (3x / 2)y =3xy/2, which isn't what we want.

I grant you it's not cut and dried, however.

Okay, ask other people's opinion, even a tutor or teacher and display the question in the same structure that this questioner has displayed it.

I'm genuinely interested in knowing what people's answers are. I'm still sticking to 2 either way.

So even if someone you trust tells you the right answer is 288 you'd continue to give 2 as your answer to this problem. Isn't that a failure of the learning process?

Simple BIDMAS tells us its 288.

48/2(9+3)...
48/2(12) BRACKETS
24(12) DIVISION
288 MULTIPLICATION

Again, nice for you, and I'm sure about 70% of people, or more, will get it wrong like you do. However the rules are completely straightforward:
Left to right for operators of equal priority.

Its 288, and this is completely undisputable from a mathematical notation point of view.