There is a rarely-used rarely-needed rule of precedence in effect here. I am an engineer and former high math person. American, 60. Fear not, I do not design bridges. . . You do the work inside parentheses first, from inside to outside but that doesn't matter in this case. Then, if all that is left is multiplication and division you work from left to right. There are a small number of exceptions that again do not come into effect here. The correct answer is 16. I would think that most normal people would say 1, and would be wrong.