Like the other guy said, multiplication is commutative, however, in the problem the 2 is actually 1/2 due to the ./. [fraction] sign
so it's 6*(1/2)(2+1)

It's really about what operation is being performed here, then perform the correct order. 2(2+1) has the multiplication operation being used. The problem is [logically] solved as 9 using this simplicity.