2(...) The 2 adjacent to the parentheses means 2 times (...). Explicitly written it's 2*(...)
The (2+2) "parentheses object" is 4.
So written out it's 8 / 2 * 4.
These operations are on the same footing, so are evaluated in order, left to right. 8/2 = 4, so now we have 4 * 4 = 16.
An earlier poster declaring "2 times 4" to be in the denominator effectively inserts parentheses that weren't there, as in 8/(2*4), or 8/(2(2+2)).
Rocket science eh...
No kidding.
A quick anecdote: Though retired I was asked to sit in on a meeting on a petro project with US, Norwegian, UK and Canadian involvement where as an icebreaker the guy in charge had the room of dozens of engineers of all disciplines, marine surveyors, geologists and the like take a piece of scrap paper and do this because he'd seen it on the internet. All but one derived the correct "16", and the one who didn't was a business development lady who was sitting in...she got "2"?? Seemed like the room was split as to whether this increased confidence in the diverse team and their educations from around the globe, with those who were somewhat amazed or insulted that the PM had brought it up in the first place.
