I think the problem with the original question is that it's not valid!  :-)

People seem to forget that a typed equation on a computer isn't the same as=
 a mathematical equation - it's part of a programming language.

A mathematical equation (as written on a blackboard by Charlie Epps) isn't =
constrained by having to be typed on a keyboard, so the "/" would be a hori=
zontal line=20
with items above and below it, so no ambiguity.

The question as typed was a hybrid (polite term!) of a mathematical equatio=
n, where the "multiply" is implied by putting two items adjacent, and a com=
puter=20
programming language, which deals with typed characters and so has rules ab=
out how they're handled (PEDMAS then left-to-right).

As such it's not valid to type "2(" as part of a program, including into a =
calculator, because the syntax of this type of algorithm is built from:
 operator operand  OR  operand operator (operand)=20
and "(" isn't this type of operator in any language I'm familiar with, but =
resolves its contents into an operand, so 2(1+2) resolves to 2 3 which isn'=
t a valid part of a=20
computer-language equation.

As it was given, Foxpro gives "Syntax error", but with the implied "*" adde=
d it gives 9, as it should.

Cheers,

Howard Winter
St.Albans, England


--=20
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