This basically shows how many people never advanced beyond basic arithmetic and algebra in school. If you done advanced math, especially in physics you get 1. If you only experienced basic math and algebra you get 9. In higher order math and physics often parentheses are implied because of the impracticality of writing it all in a long equation. To not imply a parentheses, a multiplication symbol is used. I also have a minor in physics, so I did use that quite often.