<s>[INST] Multiplication convention rules Student was asked to convert the following statement into multiplication format
$$7+7+7+7+7+7$$
She wrote the answer as $7\times 6=42$ and was marked wrong as the teacher expected $6\times 7=42$.
Is there any rule that can clarify the answer format?
The same with converting a multiplication sum into adding $6\times 3$
she wrote $3+3+3+3+3+3$ and once again was marked as wrong. Teacher expected $6+6+6=18$
 [/INST] I suspect there is no commonly accepted convention on whether $2+2+2$ is $2\times 3$ or $3\times 2$.  But note that $2\times 2\times 2$ is $2^3$, so I personally prefer to say that $2+2+2=2\times 3$.
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