Lack of brackets in spoken language
From Why start at x, y, z
There are problems similar to those related to order of operations misunderstandings causes by the lack of brackets in language.
For example, if trying to describe \(3^{2x}\), you might say "three to the power of two times x". This could, however, also be interpreted as \(2^{3}x\). One common way to reduce the ambiguity is to pause and speed up, ie say "three to the power of [pause] two-times-x".
Another example are sentences "17 is a factor of 6 more than 15" and "7 is a factor of 6 more than 15". Both can be interpreted as correct under different readings: 17 is (a factor of 6) more than 15, 7 is a factor of (6 more than 15).
Matthew Scroggs finds this a particular challenge when writing clues for the Chalkdust crossnumber.
