I find it interesting you feel this way. In my experience, it is pretty well defined: 0. Evaluate (the inside of!) parenthesis, then 1. Evaluate exponentials

I find it interesting you feel this way. In my experience, it is pretty well defined: 0. Evaluate (the inside of!) parenthesis, then 1. Evaluate exponentials, then 2. Evaluate division and multiplication operators, left to right e.g. 1 / 2 * 3 / 4 = (1/2) * 3/4 = ((1/2)*3)/4 3. Evaluate addition and subtraction operators, left to right Your issue seems to stem from the left-to-right concept (in order in which operators are encountered as you read, left-to-right). Your example of 6/2x to me is clearly (6/2)x. What is 1/2x ? In my experience, textbook authors/professors/math teachers tend to be disambiguous and either use the horizontal line for clarity or use parenthesis. I attended public schools in Ontario, Canada if it makes any difference. Edit: Oh yeah, also I have never felt that implicit operators would take precedence. Interesting!