<p>Let’s agree on the the interpretation of the / bar. Without additional parenthesis grouping the 2 and the sum, anyone who follows standard math procedures carefully would assume it means (48/2) *(9+3)</p>
<p>Computers are stupid. They follow instructions.
Using Matlab R2007b. </p>
<p>The only reason why Wolfram Alpha or Google would give us 2 is because they throw exceptions and interpret the input based on what computer thinks is appropriate (based on all the defined rules, common errors …)</p>
<p>Try 0^0 in google. It gives you 1. But we know it’s indeterminate. Google doesn’t know math and the engineers who design the calculator in google didn’t throw enough exceptions.</p>
<p>The way to read this would be multiply by (9+3) at the end.</p>