Flaming (and Yserbius)
you said “BUT, strictly speaking, there is only this juxtaposition between a constant coefficient and a variable, never a constant and another constant.”
(Yserbius didn’t say exactly that but implication is the same “These questions are all kind of silly, because the way it was written is ambiguous. “)
I was under the impression that 2×2; 2*2; (2)(2); 2(2) are all equally valid ways of expressing the same thing, namely: two multiplied by two.
In which case there is absolutely no ambiguity and nothing remotely incorrect about the OP’s problem. (assuming you recall how to perform order of operations)
can you provide a source for your assertion that the latter two equations above are ” technically incorrect”
(FWIW google had no problem solving them which seems odd for an equation that is not written correctly)