Within those three groups it doesn’t really matter which ones you do first
It absolutely does matter. You must do exponents after brackets and before multiplication and division, for the precise reason you said that exponents are shorthand for multiplication. In other words, there’s 4 groups, not three.
It absolutely does matter. You must do exponents after brackets and before multiplication and division, for the precise reason you said that exponents are shorthand for multiplication. In other words, there’s 4 groups, not three.