[jprete]

That's surprising from today's perspective, but when I imagine the thought process, it seems reasonable, especially for math and science purposes where multiplication and division operators usually get grouped into a series of multiplications above the division bar, and a series of multiplications below it.

[martincmartin]

True. + also has higher precedence than -, so that a - b + c means a - (b + c).

[MarkusQ]

Ah, the old

    My
    Dear
    Aunt
    Sally

vs.

    My Dear
    Aunt Sally

debate. :)